Fictional Truth
by akakurogin
Summary: [INCOMPLETE] Niou finds perhaps he's been tricking himself. He doesn't know what he wants, but Yanagi and Yagyuu both want him, and neither will back down. Written for ljcomm fanfic100. [Yanagi.Niou or Yagyuu.Niou]
1. 071 Broken

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Pairing: one-sided Niou/Yagyuu for now  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Niou always observed Yagyuu closely. He explained it to himself by saying that he could improve their doubles combination if he knew more about how Yagyuu worked. The gentleman was a very closed off person - it was difficult to get to know him via conventional methods. One day after practice, Yagyuu walked home with a girl. Niou knew he shouldn't have, but he couldn't help following them until he saw Yagyuu invite the girl into his house. 

"Niou-kun." Yanagi's voice was so not what he needed to hear as the door shut behind Yagyuu.

"Were you following me?" Niou coaxed a mask over his face before turning around to face the man who, for all intents and purposes, knew everything. Yanagi stood a few feet behind him, leaning casually against a lamppost, tennis bag slung over his shoulder.

"Of course. Want to tell me what this is about?" Yanagi straightened and walked forward. He stopped right in front of Niou. "Let's go get something to eat and talk." Niou just nodded and followed Yanagi to a nearby McDonald's. He didn't have much homework anyway.

Their conversation as they walked was pretty standard. Yanagi pointed out that Niou's backhand was a little unsteady and suggested some weight training to fix his balance. Once they got their food and sat down though, the conversation changed direction entirely.

"So, about your following Yagyuu's every action." Yanagi could be very very blunt when he wanted to, that was for sure. Niou had a sneaking suspicion that he did it just to read people's reactions, which was why he was very thankful for being the kind of person who could easily put up a facade and not be himself.

"What do you think about it?" Niou wasn't going to give in that easily - Yanagi was supposed to know facts, and he was supposed to play with them. Perhaps that was why they weren't the closest of friends on the team. They did complement each other well though, which is why on the rare occasion they paired for doubles, they did so well.

"I think you're infatuated with him, and not just as a teammate." Yanagi opened his eyes and tried to pierce deep into Niou's thoughts, but Niou had already put an iron mask over his face. He was very proud of himself for being able to resist the master's intimidating gaze - it wasn't a task many were up to.

"Guess your data isn't perfect." Niou took a large bite of his hamburger without dropping his staring match with Yanagi. "Promise to not tell?" He waited until Yanagi nodded before lying right between his teeth. "I need something to blackmail him with, so that he'll go along with this plan I have for the finals at Nationals."

"Really now." Yanagi's voice didn't even try to hide the fact that he didn't believe Niou in the least. "Do you really need to blackmail Yagyuu into going along with your plans? As far as I know, he goes along with what you want pretty willingly."

"That's because by definition, blackmail won't be shared if victim agrees to the conditions. Else, my threats won't be credible, will they, now?" Niou grinned as he finished off the last of his fries. "Are you going to finish those?" When Yanagi shook his head, Niou reached over the table and helped himself to some of Yanagi's fries.

"If you say so then, Niou-kun. I'm pretty sure you're lying though - just know that if you ever need help, I'm right here."

"Sure. If I ever develop a problem, I'll let you know." Niou sighed inwardly. Anyone else would have believed him. Yanagi was annoying in that way though - when he believed something was true, he'd continue on trying to prove it until he was presented with irrefutable proof to the contrary. Unfortunately, this was because his intuitions were almost always right on the money.

Niou balled up his hamburger wrapper and stuffed it into his empty, greasy fries carton before throwing them away. "Thanks for the backhand tips. I'll be sure to work on those." Yanagi nodded and followed him out the door. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow."

That evening, Niou had difficulty concentrating on his homework. Not only did his mind keep questioning who exactly Yagyuu had been with, but he also kept seeing Yanagi's open eyes staring at him, poking around at his innermost thoughts in the hopes of finding the truth somewhere. Eventually, he gave up and, shutting off his desk lamp, Niou changed into track pants and, throwing on a windbreaker, he went out for a jog. There were storm clouds in the sky, but it didn't look like it was going to rain anytime soon.

As he was crossing the street into a park, a familiar flash caught his eye and he turned to get a closer look. Indeed, Yagyuu stood across the street, hand resting on the back of the same girl Niou had seen go home with him earlier. Yagyuu was smiling down at her as he held the restaurant door open, always the perfect gentleman. When he let the door fall closed behind them, Yagyuu leaned down and kissed her.

Niou's blood ran cold in his veins. He'd read about it, but didn't think it was so adequately descriptive. Ice spread outward from his chest. His fingers felt like he'd stuck them in ice baths, then his feet, and then he was shivering and goosebumps were forming along his biceps. His face tingled and cooled, and he wondered if it were pale. Was this what people meant when they said someone's face drained of blood? His lungs started burning, and he realized he hadn't breathed in far too long. Expelling the stale air in his lungs through his nose, Niou stumbled backwards until he managed to lean against a tree, open mouth gasping for a breath of air. Once, at practice, he'd missed while diving for a ball and landed improperly on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. This was worse.

Niou stood in the shadows for awhile, watching as Yagyuu and the girl walked out of sight, before stumbling back home. He didn't really feel like jogging anymore. He wasn't even sure why he felt so shocked upon seeing Yagyuu like that. Could Yanagi have been right? Did he really like Yagyuu that way? How did Yanagi know? Was it possible that he was so good at tricking people, that he'd managed to trick himself? Was it possible that Yanagi's data could see into him through such a deep veil of lies that he himself could not see out of it?

He didn't even bother turning the lights on in his room. Instead, he crawled under his covers and curled up into a fetal position, still shivering slightly.

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comments/critiques please? 


	2. 001 Beginnings

Title: Fictional Truth   
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Niou found himself horribly tangled in his blankets when he woke up. He didn't feel rested at all, despite having fallen into a dreamless sleep earlier than normal. He checked the clock - there was still an hour before he had to get to morning practice, so he decided to finish as much of his homework as he could. He didn't want to go to practice and face Yagyuu, and he also didn't want Yanagi to see him not wanting to face Yagyuu. Grabbing a bite of rice, Niou decided he _really_ didn't want Sanada to give him more laps than a human could possibly run, so he hurried out the door, stuffing his half-finished homework in his schoolbag. 

He arrived early at the clubroom - only Sanada and Yanagi were there. Sanada looked mildly shocked at Niou's timeliness, since Niou usually competed with Kirihara to be the last one arriving in the mornings. Yanagi seemed to take it in stride and offered to show him the weight exercises they'd discussed.

When Yagyuu sauntered into the clubhouse, suave and cool, Niou glanced at him and dropped the weights he was working with, which he was certain did not go unnoticed by Yanagi. He immediately averted his eyes and picked up the weights, hoping that everyone else just assumed he lost his grip. "Niou-kun, be careful." Yagyuu's voice was smooth as he set his tennis bag down and started to change. Niou just nodded at him.

Marui and Jackal's entrance didn't help Yanagi's analysis of Niou. Marui took one look at Niou's presence and said, "Is the world ending today? Niou's actually here early?" Niou didn't feel like responding, though he normally would've responded with something just to shut Marui up. The most tell-tale sign was probably when Kirihara burst through the door, shoes already half-toed off as he was preparing to change quickly to still be on time. Niou didn't say a word about how he'd arrived before the junior, when he'd normally be taunting the boy, only to have Kirihara yell back at him while tugging his shirt down with one hand, his shorts up with the other, and stuffing his feet into his sneakers, all at once. This time though, he left Kirihara to perform his superhuman changing routine in peace.

At lunch, Yanagi pulled Niou aside to ask why he'd been acting so strangely. Niou didn't admit to anything. Yanagi sighed and let him be, wandering over to talk with Sanada, probably about lineups. Niou went through afternoon practice like a robot. He wasn't able to concentrate and just hit balls when they came at him. Despite his having been on time in the morning, Sanada still assigned him laps after practice for not giving his all. Niou didn't complain, and even jogged an extra five laps, just to make absolute certain that Yagyuu would have already left by the time he returned to the clubroom. Indeed, Yanagi was leaning by his locker alone, apparently waiting for Niou. Yanagi waited as Niou showered and changed, and then they walked to Niou's house together in silence.

"You want to come in? We have some leftover curry." Niou held the door open for Yanagi and found a pair of guest slippers for him to use. The curry was pretty good, even reheated.

When they finished, Yanagi thanked him for the food and stood to leave. At the door, Yanagi picked up his bag and looked at Niou. "You don't have to tell me what's up with you. I think you like Yagyuu, but I've never hoped to be more wrong. I like you, Niou. I want to ask you out. I don't care if you like Yagyuu more than me. I can wait - for you, I will wait." He closed the door behind him, leaving Niou staring after him in complete and utter shock.

Niou leaned against the hallway wall and wondered what to do. He wanted to call Yagyuu and ask him what to do - Yagyuu was always good at helping him - but he wasn't sure if that was the best of ideas. Other than Yagyuu, he'd probably be questioning Yanagi when something like this came up, but for obvious reasons he couldn't do that this time either. Yanagi's speech repeated itself in his head. He was almost certain Yanagi had prepared the speech ahead of time, but like one would expect of the master, it didn't sound the least bit preplanned.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something right now, Niou, can this wait?" Yagyuu sounded preoccupied, and Niou would swear that was a girl giggling in the background.

"Yea, sure. I'll see you tomorrow." Niou clicked off the phone and slid down the wall, sitting with his knees bent in front of him. He stared at the phone in his hands for a few minutes before punching in Yanagi's phone number.

"What's up?" Yanagi's voice might have held a hint of trepidation, but it was hard to tell.

"I'm going to need a little time."

"That's OK. I told you - I can wait."

"I'm not sure this will work."

"That's OK. I'll be happy enough if you're just willing to try it."

"Yea." He paused, and Yanagi wisely said nothing, waiting for him to continue. "Yea, that sounds good. We can try it." Niou leaned his head back, resting it against the wall.

"Are you free Saturday after practice?" Yanagi's words came out in one breath, as though he'd been holding them in for a long time. The anxiety was entirely gone from his voice, and Niou could almost hear a smile teasing at Yanagi's mouth.

"Yea, that sounds good." Niou closed his eyes. They spoke for a little while longer before hanging up. Niou closed his eyes, resting his arms on his knees. How could his life have changed so much in just twenty-four hours?

When Saturday came, Yanagi took him to watch a professional tennis match. It almost felt like any other normal outing together as teammates, except it wasn't, because Yanagi paid for both tickets and the snacks - he even got pretzels because he knew that Niou likes crunching on the salty sticks. They barely talked during the match, though they'd usually be chattering away about how the serve was too slow or how the cross-shot was probably not the best idea.

"You know, I don't think this is such a good idea." The match was over, but Niou didn't remember a thing that had happened - he was too busy being incredibly aware of each time their knees accidentally bumped and each time their fingers accidentally brushed when they both reached for a pretzel. "It's too weird. I don't see you in that way, which just makes it just that much weirder."

"No, no, wait, it's my fault." Yanagi moved to stand in front of Niou and stopped. "I thought a tennis match would be a good way to ease into this, since it's so normal, but maybe we should try something else, something where we talk some more. Can we just try something else?"

Niou thought for a moment before replying. "Sure. There's an arcade two blocks from here, do you want to go there?" Video games was always a normal activity for boys their age - he could really get into the game and pretend Yanagi wasn't there, if it were still awkward. Yanagi agreed, and they started walking again in the direction of the arcade. Niou told Yanagi about a new game the arcade got, and how he'd been dying to play it and how he'd been reading reviews about it on the internet; Yanagi just nodded along. Niou played the game first with Yanagi watching - he was very proud of bumping the top score off on his first try. Yanagi tried the game after Niou and nearly doubled his score. "Oh wow! Do you play a lot of video games or something? I don't think even Kirihara could have dealt with those snipers across the moving bridge!"

"No, it's just pretty easy to find patterns in the coding of the game and predict what's going to happen next." Yanagi stuck his tongue out with a smile, making Niou laugh. It was fun, normal, and not a bit awkward.

As the sun started to set, they started to walk back home. When they reached the junction between their houses, Niou turned to Yanagi and grinned. "I had fun today."

"Uh, I thought I could maybe walk you home." Yanagi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Niou's smile widened - he could still play with the data master.

"I'm not a girl, Yanagi. I can walk home by myself, and you should be getting home, too."

"Oh." Yanagi's shoulder shifted slightly, and Niou decided to take pity on him.

"We should do this again sometime." Niou bent forward and looked up at Yanagi, grinning. "Got'cha there, didn't I?"

Yanagi let out his breath and smiled, straightening back up. "Yea, yea, let's. Well then, I'll see you on Monday."

"Yup." Niou started walking home, before turning, hopping back and pecking a kiss on Yanagi's cheek. He left Yanagi standing there with his tennis bag, shocked immobile, and sauntered back towards his house.

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comment/critiques please? I'm not sure how long this is going to be... though I do seem to enjoy writing weird pairings. o.0  



	3. 034 Not Enough

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

It was difficult to see Yagyuu, be around him, play with him. Niou didn't want it to be difficult. He wanted to be OK with it, he really wanted to be OK with everything. It was just so hard when he practiced with Yagyuu six days a week. 

Yagyuu, however, was blithely unaware of Niou's feelings. Niou, the trickster of the courts, earned his nickname for a reason. He was very good at putting up a false front and being someone he wasn't. When he next saw the girl waiting by the courts for Yagyuu to finish up and change, he even managed to tease Yagyuu about his "girlfriend". Yagyuu didn't respond; he just smiled indulgently at Niou and hit a laser beam to end the game between them. "Switch courts." Yagyuu's silence on the topic was at once a relief and a torment. Niou wanted to know more about the girl, but he also was thankful that Yagyuu wasn't constantly talking about her like a lovesick puppy.

The week before the prefectural finals, Niou found Sanada and Yanagi arguing inside the clubroom. Neither raised his voice, but both were clearly very set in having their way. He sauntered over to see what the argument was about.

"Why do you want to put Jackal and Marui in singles? You know they're better at doubles." Sanada tugged on his cap, clearly distressed at why the team's dataman seemed to be acting so irrationally.

"They can both play singles - they're both good and you know it. Plus, this is a good change to test their level - you know they're better than anything Hanomiya can ever come up with." Yanagi's gaze never left Sanada's face. It was clear that he was up to something and already had all the data analyzed. It just wasn't clear to anyone else what that data said.

"That not a real reason, Renji, and you know it. Hanomiya shouldn't be able to test any of our Regulars. Even if it is just the prefecturals, it's still a final round, and we should show them some respect by putting forward our best lineup." To some degree, Sanada was correct. People cared more about the final round of a small tournament than the double octofinals of a large tournament, and as returning national champions, Rikkai should demonstrate grace by respecting that. "I still think we should at least have Niou and Yagyuu in doubles one."

Niou stiffened, his hand frozen on the sheet of paper with Yanagi's lineup on it. He immediately understood what the problem was when he saw his name next to Kirihara's on the paper. Marui and Kirihara appeared over his shoulder, and he forced himself to relax. "This looks fine to me - I'd like to try playing with the little devil sometime, and this seems as good a time as any." Niou ruffled Kirihara's hair and the junior responded by sticking his tongue out in annoyance. Kirihara had learned early on that while he made his opponents shake in their sneakers with terror, he would never be able to make his upperclassman bat an eyelash, and so had dropped his antagonistic front around them.

Sanada raised an eyebrow at him. "Akaya's not a doubles player and you know it."

"That's what will make it interesting, fukubuchou." Marui popped his gum as he looked at the lineup. "Plus, playing with different partners helps with growing as individual players, which will help their formation more than continuously playing together."

Sanada sighed and set the lineup down on the desk. "Fine, fine. Just remember, losing is unacceptable."

"You don't really think we'd lose to Hanomiya, do you?" Niou smiled. This was going to be interesting. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yagyuu looking at them silently. Throughout the whole conversation, Yagyuu had not injected any comment for or against the lineup switching. Niou wondered how Yagyuu felt about it, though he figured his partner was most likely interested in seeing if the switchup really could help their combination.

In retrospect, Yanagi probably realized that pairing Niou and Kirihara in doubles wasn't the best of ideas. They both enjoyed torturing their opponents in the own ways, but together - their opponents never had a chance. Niou didn't even have time to perform his plan before Kirihara finished up the match, six-love. Oh well; he could save it to use at a later tournament.

Despite their appearance and reputations, Yanagi and Yagyuu were no less vicious. Their opponents couldn't return a single of their shots, and the match was over before Niou finished his typical post-match weight training. Marui's match was amicable by comparison, though he still won without letting his opponent score a single point.

The presence of one particular girl in the audience didn't escape Niou's attention, nor did her anxiety during the doubles one match. After they bowed to their opponents, they prepared to head over to the hospital as a team to fill Yukimura in on the details of the match. Even with such apparently flawless victories though, each player knew that his serves could have been faster and his returns more deadly. There was always room for improvement, and Yukimura would doubtlessly remind them of it. The girl joined them as they exited the courts; Yagyuu introduced her to the team as Mizutani Ami. She was tiny when surrounded by the Regulars of the Rikkai tennis club and appeared very fragile. She and Yagyuu were kept busy answering - and sometimes evading - Marui and Kirihara's endless questions about how they met and how far they'd gone. She was quite pretty when she blushed, Niou noticed. He hated that.

"You seemed to take a backseat to Akaya there." Yanagi fell into step next to Niou, who wasn't very interested in watching Yagyuu sigh at Marui's inappropriateness before turning to smile gently down at Mizutani. At least they weren't hold hands or anything disgusting like that.

"Yea, well. I didn't really have time to execute my part before the match was over."

"Ah. Will you be using it at Kantou, then?"

"Maybe. I'd have to arrange it with Yagyuu though - I'm assuming he and I will be partnering in the finals."

"Yes, that would be the best possible scenario. You'd be up against Seigaku's Golden Pair."

"They sound interesting."

"Ah."

They walked in silence for awhile, and Niou glanced up at Yanagi out of the corner of his eye. Yanagi looked like a boy who'd grown into a man in one day - his body was too long and deceptively skinny. He slouched just a little when he walked, and he always held his head high. Yanagi knew everything before it happened, and fed Niou information on opponents so that he could think of a way to strike. Yanagi got more chocolates on Valentine's Day than any geek had a right to - even more than Sanada and Jackal.

Yanagi cared about him, enough to know that Niou was still deeply infatuated with Yagyuu and not care, if it meant they could be together.

Yanagi was pretty damn cool, but at the end of the day, Yanagi was not Yagyuu Hiroshi.

* * *

Oh right. Alternate universe and all that. Think if Prince of Tennis were set in high school. And while I may mention tournaments that happened in the storyline, the lineups and such are all off. 

The next part should be more interesting...

As usual, comments and the like loved.


	4. 077 What?

Title: Fictional Truth   
Rating: PG   
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"Coming!" Niou hurried down the stairs, wondering who was at his door. His family was out when he returned from his Sunday afternoon date with Yanagi. He didn't expect to see Yagyuu standing on his front porch. "Yagyuu. What's up?" 

"Can I come in?" Always the polite one, Yagyuu waited for Niou to give him permission before stepping inside and slipping out of his shoes. "There's something I wanted to ask you, and I thought it'd be better in person." There was a very slight rim of red around Yagyuu's eyes, and his shoulders drooped just a little. These details didn't go unnoticed by Niou though - he knew Yagyuu so well, watched him so closely, that he could even tell Yagyuu's voice held some manner of confusion.

"OK. Do you want anything to drink?" Niou wasn't sure if he necessarily wanted to know what Yagyuu wanted to talk about. All the signs were pointing for him to run away and avoid his partner, but this was Yagyuu. He never could turn down anything Yagyuu requested. When Yagyuu answered in the negative, Niou led the way up to his room. Plopping down on the floor, he leaned back against the wall andcwaited for Yagyuu to begin talking.

"What's going on between you and Yanagi?" Yagyuu sat down on the corner of Yagyuu's futon, facing him.

"What?"

"I saw you guys together today, coming out of some cafe. It looked like you guys were on a date."

"Well, what about you and Mizutani?" Niou suddenly felt his energy drained. What right did Yagyuu have to come to his house demanding an explanation for Niou's behavior, when it was all Yagyuu's fault for dating cute, intelligent, female Mizutani Ami in the first place?

"Niou, I thought you liked girls. You're always talking about them. I thought - I didn't know." Yagyuu trailed off, apparently unable to express what he thought or didn't think. Niou's eyes widened and his mouth went dry. He was afraid to ask the next question. Yagyuu was avoiding his gaze, and Niou's intuition told him that whatever Yagyuu was having difficulty saying, he'd have difficulty hearing.

"What... didn't you know?" He was surprised to hear his voice come out a bare whisper. In the otherwise silent room, though, it came out loud and clear. Yagyuu finally met his gaze, and Niou's heart skipped a beat.

"I didn't know I might have had a chance."

The room spun, and Niou was glad he was sitting down. The meaning behind Yagyuu's words hit him like a train. "I thought you liked girls." He paused to swallow, desperately needing to wet his dry throat and wishing that he'd brought tea up with them. "You're dating one."

"I do." Yagyuu's response was a little too quick, a little too defensive. Niou shrunk back slightly, confusion blossoming back onto his face, and Yagyuu's face softened. "But you, you're special. Niou. I don't know why, but if it's you, I don't care that you're a guy. It just doesn't matter."

Niou started at Yagyuu for a long time, searching for some answer, some tell to expose Yagyuu's bluff, but he couldn't find anything. Yagyuu's gaze met his unwaveringly, full of confusion, hurt, hope, and all sorts of emotions he couldn't even put a name to. "So, what do you propose doing?" He was starting to get a little bit unnerved by the intensity behind Yagyuu's eyes.

"Are you with Yanagi?"

"I think so. I don't know. We've been on two dates, sort of. He was really nice, really thoughtful. He likes me a lot." Niou was babbling, and he knew it, but he couldn't stop. Yagyuu's face fell, and Niou was quick to continue in a different direction. "But he also seems to think that I like you. He told me he was willing to wait however long I needed to get over you."

"Do you?" Hope reentered Yagyuu's face, like the world overrun by evil when Pandora released the hope she found at the bottom of her jar.

Niou sighed and averted his eyes. Why couldn't Yagyuu have discussed this with him before they got into this whole big mess? How was he supposed to respond to this? "I don't know. Maybe. If I did, what would happen?"

"I'd break if off with Mizutani and ask you out." Yagyuu's response was so quick, it was clear he had already prepared the whole thing. Niou would confess, and Yagyuu would accept, and they'd each apologize to their respective partners and make hot monkey love to each other in the clubroom. No, strike that last part - that was in Niou's fantasy. Yagyuu would probably want to do it in a bed, but Niou could train him out of that idea.

"And Yanagi?"

"Knowing him, he's already got this entire scenario mapped out." At Niou's frown, Yagyuu quickly retracted his words. "There are going to be some losers in this. Mizutani and Yanagi are just innocent victims, and if avoidable, I'd prefer not having to hurt them. But Niou, I also don't want to live with this huge regret over my head. Niou, if you really do like me, don't you think it's unfair to Yanagi to keep going out with him?"

Niou briefly wondered if this was an entirely over-elaborate ruse Yanagi had set up to test how Niou would respond given the situation. He really wished it were, because then his life would be so much easier. He knew that it couldn't be the case though - even as the idea was formulating in his head, he knew that Yanagi wouldn't risk it this early. Yanagi knew that Niou wasn't over Yagyuu yet, and the master never took unnecessary risks. This was more like something Niou himself would set up, except not against himself. Maybe this was just his karma kicking in. In any case, even if Yanagi had set this up, Yagyuu couldn't act _that_ well - no actor could display so much emotion on his face all at once, each fighting for dominance and none ever actually winning. "I don't know. This whole situation is unfair. It's unfair to me and you and Yanagi and Mizutani, no matter the outcome."

"Do you like Yanagi, Niou?" Yagyuu's voice was soft, almost resigned. Niou didn't like hearing Yagyuu's voice like that - Yagyuu was supposed to be strong and determined.

"Do you like Mizutani?" That was a dumb question. Of course Yagyuu liked her; he was dating her. That same logic could be used to prove that he liked Yanagi though, and Niou knew that wasn't entirely true.

"Yes, but Niou, she's not you."

Niou was slightly taken aback by Yagyuu's using the same exact words he'd used on Yanagi before. Yanagi was not Yagyuu Hiroshi. The boy - no, man - in front of him _was_ Yagyuu Hiroshi. He thought back to that evening when he realized Yagyuu was dating a girl, and the numbing cold that had spread over his whole body. He tried picturing Yanagi with a girl, but didn't feel anything.

Yagyuu moved off the bed and knelt in front of Niou, so that their faces were only about a foot part. "Niou." He tilted Niou's chin up with his finger, and Niou couldn't avoid looking into his partner's green, green eyes. Yagyuu leaned forward slowly, slowly, until their noses were touching. "Niou." Yagyuu's whisper was so soft, Niou felt it against his lips more than actually heard it. Yagyuu tilted his head slightly, and fell back onto his rear with a thud when Niou pushed him away and jumped to his feet.

"I think you should go." Internally, his head was screaming at him. Yagyuu Hiroshi, the star of his fantasies these past few weeks, was just about to kiss him, and he stopped it for no real reason at all. He knew it wasn't right though, if only because Yanagi and Mizutani didn't know it was happening.

* * *

Comments/critiques please? Seriously though, the kind and number of reviews I get each chapter lets me know what people like, and that means more of that in the future...While I dislike the whole "I have to get x number of reviews before writing a new chapter!" that seems to frequent other FFN stories (and don't worry, would never do that), encouragement really does help the creativity process. :X  



	5. 072 Fixed

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"I see." Yanagi's voice was solid and emotionless. Niou wasn't sure what to do. He wished there was someone he could talk to, but the only person he would normally talk with was pretty much the only one he couldn't talk about it with this time. "Well then, congratulations. I wish you two all the luck."

"No, that's not what I meant!" Niou quickly realized what his words must have sounded like to Yanagi and hoped he could correct what Yanagi must be imagining before Yanagi hung up on him. "Nothing happened. I told him to leave." After he'd shoved Yagyuu away and told him to leave, Yagyuu had done just that. Niou sat in his room, trying to piece together everything that had happened. He'd picked up the phone and called Yanagi, because he knew he wasn't smart enough to work it out on his own. Yanagi was the only person who'd ever gotten any accurate data on him, so perhaps Yanagi could help, even a little.

"Why? I thought you were still in love with him." There was a bitter tint to Yanagi's voice now. That actually comforted Niou - it let him know that he was chipping away at the exterior Yanagi had put up.

"I don't know. I want to see you. Can I come over? I need to see you." He wasn't sure what he would do or say when he saw Yanagi, but he knew that he just needed to see him. Maybe once he did, he'd have the answers to all his questions. Yanagi was like that; he just held the answers to everything.

"Can this wait until tomorrow?"

Niou's heart fell. He didn't want to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow would mean time for him to think over everything, and for once, he didn't want to plan out every little detail. He wouldn't be able to think clearly about it all until he saw Yanagi. "No. Please."

There was silence on the line for awhile, and then Yanagi sighed. "I'll meet you at the school courts. My family's home."

Niou jotted down a quick note about where he was going for his parents, in case they returned before he did. He all but sprinted to the courts, taking all the familiar shortcuts he'd discovered while shaving off precious minutes trying to get to morning practice on time. The courts were empty when he arrived, so he just started pacing around them until Yanagi showed up.

"Niou."

At the sound of his name, Niou dropped his pacing and headed straight for Yanagi, stopping a foot or two away from him. His heart was racing a mile a minute, as though he'd just finished a particularly strenuous game. "Hi."

"Hi." Yanagi's eyes were closed. It was hard to read him, which was probably fair, since Niou himself wasn't exactly an open, non-fiction book.

"Yanagi, I still want to try us, if that's OK with you." The words came out of him from nowhere, and he couldn't believe that he'd just blurted it out like that. He wasn't even sure yet if that was necessarily the route he wanted to take - but why else would he have wanted to see Yanagi so badly during and after the whole ordeal with Yagyuu?

Yanagi looked quite shocked for just a fraction of a second before he regained his composure. Even before this entire escapade, Niou had always enjoyed trying to surprise the Master. He had only been successful twice, and that was back in freshman year when Yanagi hadn't finished collecting Niou's data yet. "You and me us? Why? You can have Yagyuu now, isn't he the one you've always wanted?"

"No, only briefly. I only started thinking that I had a crush on him because you put the idea into my head, but then you were there to see me through it, and to be with me whenever he was with her. You supported me, and Yanagi, I want to keep that." Niou stepped closer, until he was so close to Yanagi that another step would mean sharing space with him. Yanagi didn't move; he only followed Niou's approach with his eyes. Niou tiptoed up so that his eyes were level with Yanagi's. "Can we try this, still, Renji?" He breathed in and smelled Yanagi's aftershave, even this late in the afternoon.

"Masaharu." Yanagi pressed a light kiss on Niou's lips. Niou closed his eyes, grasped Yanagi's neck, and opened his mouth, granting Yanagi access for a real kiss. Yanagi accepted the invitation, tilting his head slightly before joining their lips together. He rested his hands on Niou's waist, thumbs tracing the lines of his pants' waistband.

The next day, Niou was well aware of Yanagi's eyes on him throughout morning practice. He was supposed to talk to Yagyuu after practice to get it all sorted out, and he knew that Yanagi was still worried he would end up with Yagyuu still. Once practice was over and they finished changing into their school clothes, Niou pulled Yagyuu aside for a "strategy talk."

"Listen, Yagyuu-" Niou was about to start talking when Yagyuu uncharacteristically interrupted him.

"Don't start with 'listen,' Niou. That invariably leads to bad news. Let me tell you something first - I broke up with Mizutani after I left your place yesterday. I can't keep it up with her, knowing that there's any chance at all with you." Yagyuu spoke faster than normal, and Niou hated himself for being the one getting the normally calm gentleman so worked up. He liked the level-headed Yagyuu better. It was easy to deal with a calm Yagyuu.

"Yagyuu, I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, Niou, don't."

"Yagyuu, please don't make this harder. I don't want to ruin our friendship over this - you're my best friend, you know that. And the team still needs us for doubles at Kantou and Nationals - we're going to be _the_ best doubles team at Nationals, remember?" Niou stopped at the entrance of the third year building. He didn't want to be having this conversation in the hallway, and they were still early, anyway. He turned to look at Yagyuu, but Yagyuu refused to meet his gaze. "Yagyuu?" Niou reached out to touch Yagyuu's hand, but Yagyuu flinched upon contact and folded his arms defensively over his chest.

"We should get to class." Yagyuu pushed his glasses further up his nose. It was a compulsive habit, something he did when he didn't know what to do with his hands, just like how Yanagi stuffed his hands in his pockets and Sanada folded his across his chest. Funny what people learned about each other after three years of practicing and playing on the same team day in and day out.

Niou nodded, knowing that Yagyuu probably just wanted to be away from him for now. He turned and walked into the familiar hallway, only to run into Yanagi. "How'd he take it?"

"Not so well." Niou sighed. He didn't like what he had just done to his best friend, but it wasn't his fault. Life was unfair like that. If Yagyuu had been more forward, if he had claimed he would keep chasing him like Yanagi had, maybe Niou would have caved. But Yagyuu didn't, and Niou didn't, and Niou was with Yanagi and that was just the way things were. That's what he chose, wasn't it? So why did he feel so empty inside?

Yanagi briefly looked like he was going to hug Niou, but he didn't. "Meet me on the roof for lunch." The first bell rang, and Yanagi walked off in the direction of his classroom. Niou quickly switched his shoes and did the same.

Lunch started off rather awkwardly. Neither of them wanted to broach the subject of Yagyuu, but it was clear that he was on both of their minds. Finally, unable to stand the small talk any longer, Niou asked about the Kantou lineups. "Who're our biggest competitors going to be?"

Yanagi looked relieved at the familiar, comfortable topic. He slipped back into his data mode, pulling out his notebook with the tournament bracket neatly drawn across two pages. "I hear that Seigaku is extremely strong this year - they've got some super-rookie on their team. But, they'll be playing against Hyoutei in the first round. Whoever wins that match will probably make it to the finals. Rumor has it that Hyoutei is going to break out their Regulars earlier than normal this year, after that defeat to Fudomine. Incidentally, Fudomine will also be a final four contender, though they really only have one player who's very good."

Instead of paying complete attention to what Yanagi was saying, Niou studied Yanagi himself. When Yanagi got absorbed by his data, his back straightened and his eyes lit up - he looked really good like that, especially with the blue, cloudless sky in the background. Suddenly, Niou hooked a finger under Yanagi's jawbone and turned his head so that they were facing each other, and leaned in for a kiss. Yanagi looked stunned for a second before reciprocating. When they broke apart, Yanagi's smile held a hint of amusement as he asked, "What was that for?"

"I just felt like it." Niou grinned mischievously. "So I'm assuming that Yagyuu and I won't be playing together until the semifinals at the earliest?"

"Yea, I think that would be best. You should still practice together though, if possible."

"Have I told you about the plan that didn't get executed at the prefecturals, yet?" Niou suddenly got very excited, remembering his plan to beat all other plans.

"I think I know what it is. It would definitely work best with Yagyuu - the two of you already know each other so well that it wouldn't take much practice for it to be unnoticeable by other teams." Yanagi seemed a bit pensive, as though while he knew the plan was a good one, he didn't want Niou to go through with it. It was just like Yanagi to have seen through it at the prefecturals though - Niou was certain no one else had.

"We'd still need some help fine-tuning everything. I'll run it by Yagyuu this afternoon - if he agrees, how about you help coach us?" It would make sense in multiple ways if that happened - Yanagi was probably the one person who could spot the most errors in Niou's ploy and best help them overcome them. Plus, he'd be able to watch over them to make sure that nothing happened.

"Sure." Just then, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch period, and Niou jumped to his feet.

"Awesome!" I'll see you at practice then." He grinned, and Yanagi smiled back, climbing to his feet in a more dignified manner. It was going to be awkward for awhile yet - Yanagi was going to be paranoid, and Niou was going to have to help him overcome that. They'd get over it though. They were part of Rikkai - Rikkai never loses.

Yagyuu was also part of Rikkai, though.

* * *

So, who's surprised, and who's not? P It's not the end yet for these boys though... I'm not that nice. (the next part's going to be awesome, promise.)  
Comments?


	6. 042 Triangle, 047 Heart

Title: Fictional Truth   
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Yanagi was waiting for Niou by his locker after the last class of the day let out. "Hey." 

"What, couldn't wait until we got to the courts to see me again?" Niou grinned, opening his locker to switch his shoes. When Yanagi didn't respond, Niou glanced up at him while tying his shoelace, only to see Yanagi's eyes fixated on a point above his head.

"Yagyuu." Yanagi's greeting was colder than usual, and Niou groaned inwardly. They didn't need this now.

He stood and turned - Yagyuu was standing so close to him, Niou was surprised he didn't sense his presence earlier. He took a step back. "Hey Yagyuu. Headed over to practice?" Niou closed his locker and picked up his tennis bag. He started to walk past Yagyuu when he was stopped by a hand grabbing onto his own.

"Niou, I think we need to finished our talk from this morning." Yagyuu's eyes moved from Niou to Yanagi, a spark of challenge igniting in them. Before Niou could respond, Yanagi stepped in and forcibly opened Yagyuu's hand to release Niou's. Despite his skinny appearance, Yanagi was one of the strongest boys in the tennis club.

"Yagyuu, please leave my boyfriend alone. We should be getting to practice now before we're late." Yanagi's voice may have seemed calm to any passer-by, but both Yagyuu and Niou could tell that there was a sharp edge in his voice. "Let's go, Masaharu." Yanagi started walking. Niou hurried after Yanagi, not wanting to stay and see his best friend's reaction to Yanagi's use of his first name. He wasn't sure he could withstand it - he just might cave - and he didn't want that to happen. He was also a little surprised at Yanagi's calling him his boyfriend. Niou wasn't quite sure they were that serious yet, but maybe Yanagi had only used it for effect. "I don't think you guys should practice together for a couple days at the least." Yanagi's shoulders were stiff, and his expression was still annoyed, though it lightened a bit when he looked at Niou.

"He'll collect himself. We'll be OK. We have to be, for the team. For Yukimura." Niou lightly bumped his shoulder against Yanagi's and smiled. Yanagi smiled back at him, relaxing ever so slightly. Jackal and Sanada were already in the clubroom when the two of them entered. "Yo."

"Akaya got detention again," Yanagi coolly informed Sanada. Both Niou and Yanagi had thrown on masks upon entering the room to avoid letting the others suspect something was wrong. "He'll be thirty minutes late."

"Again?" Jackal sighed as he finished shaving his head and put his razor away.

"What are we going to do with that kid?" Niou muttered, shrugging out of his school uniform and pulling out his tennis uniform. Yagyuu walked in then, with Marui right behind him. Niou avoided looking at Yagyuu - he wasn't strong enough right now to continue rejecting Yagyuu, even with Yanagi standing right next to him.

"What's up with you two?" Sanada wasn't the world's most intuitive person - in fact, a tennis ball was probably more intuitive than Sanada. It was kind of sad, really - the entire team could tell that Yukimura had a crush on Sanada and was just too shy to speak up about it. Sanada didn't pick up on it at all. It was like trying to get electric fields through a Faraday cage - it just wasn't going to happen. The fact that he picked up on tension between Niou and Yagyuu, therefore, was both impressive of him and of their situation.

"Nothing." Niou grabbed his racket and started to head out, but was stopped by Sanada.

"It's not nothing when you refuse to look at Yagyuu, Niou. We need you guys at Kantou. What's wrong?" Sanada used his "vice-captain voice" - the one that he usually reserved for yelling at people when they didn't win a match six-love.

Niou glanced at Yagyuu and recoiled as if burnt. Yagyuu's green eyes were _intense_. Niou often thought that Yagyuu was the more frightening half of their combination, though their opponents typically underestimated the sadistic streak hidden inside the gentleman and instead were afraid of the trickster, Niou. He'd thought it was amusing, until he found himself on the receiving end of Yagyuu's undivided attention.

When Yagyuu saw Niou's reaction though, he wilted like a flower. Yagyuu wasn't supposed to be the one who hurt Niou. Yagyuu was Niou's best friend - he was supposed to make Niou smile and laugh and be generally happy. His face immediately took on an softer, apologetic expression.

"Look, whatever is troubling you girls, either put it behind you or talk about it so we all know what's going on. Remember that we're a team - we're supposed to work together." Sanada was clearly frustrated and ready to start assigning penalty laps.

"Sorry," Niou and Yagyuu spoke simultaneously. Jackal raised an eyebrow, which made funny creases in the skin on his forehead and scalp.

"Niou, Kirihara told me that you had something planned for the prefectural finals that you didn't get to implement - did you want to use it at Kantou instead?" Yagyuu's voice was gentle, almost too gentle. It scared Niou.

"Niou and I were just talking about that at lunch, actually." Yanagi had finished changing while Sanada was scolding their best doubles team and was now standing next to Niou. "If you're OK with the plan, I'm going to help you guys perfect it."

"Can the rest of us know?" Marui was always interested in Niou's latest ploys. Niou sometimes shared them ahead of time, and sometimes he waited to see their reactions when he implemented his plans during the tournaments.

"Maybe. Not right now though; I need to talk it over with Yagyuu first." Things were starting to feel a little more normal. Niou was glad no one else on the team was involved in this, well, whatever it was between Yagyuu, Yanagi and himself. He could hide his emotions easily when he was playing tennis, as could Yagyuu and Yanagi. They were all well-trained to be entirely single-minded when it came to tennis - Yukimura had beaten it into their very souls over the past two and a half years.

Practice, in fact, was quite normal. Niou played against Yagyuu, and everything was fine. While running laps, Niou explained his plot to Yagyuu, who seemed to enjoy the idea immensely and was interested in getting started right away. So after everyone else had left, Niou, Yagyuu and Yanagi stayed behind to start working on "The Switch."

"It's weird playing with my left hand." Yagyuu bounced Niou's racket in his left hand a couple of times, trying to balance himself opposite of what came to him naturally. One court over, Niou was quickly improving at hitting a forehand slice with his right hand. They were going to start the training by getting all the basic shots up to par, before moving in on special techniques. Niou had a slight edge, since he'd already practiced with his right hand a lot in preparation for playing Kirihara.

"You should try some more footwork exercises so that it's more intuitive to step forward with your left leg instead of your right. Just work on swinging the racket for awhile, instead of trying to hit balls." In between jotting down notes and diagramming out footwork sequences, Yanagi looked up at the two and called out specific advice. Two hours later, Yanagi stopped the practice. "Don't overexert yourselves on the first day. We've got at least three weeks before you even get a chance to use this."

Yanagi refused to leave Yagyuu and Niou alone while showering. Instead, he stood outside their stalls, giving them more tips on what training to do and what kind of cosplay supplies they'd need. Niou disliked the way it seemed as though he couldn't take care of himself and needed to hide behind Yanagi, but at the same time, he was touched by Yanagi's possessiveness and desire to ensure that Yagyuu didn't steal him away. When they finished showering and changing, the three of them stood outside the clubroom awkwardly, unsure what to do and say.

"Renji, I think there are some things Yagyuu and I need to finish talking about." Niou lightly touched Yanagi's hand, not wanting to seem too affectionate for fear of making Yagyuu feel worse. When it came down to it, Yagyuu was still his best friend and partner, and he didn't want to see Yagyuu hurt. "Why don't you go home first; I'll call you when I get home."

Yanagi clearly didn't like the idea, but he didn't object. They parted ways at the school gate - while Yanagi walked home, Niou led Yagyuu to the woods behind a nearby Shinto shrine, where they used to go for their strategy talks.

* * *

Niou liked these woods. He and Yagyuu had been coming here since their freshman year. They would climb the different trees and talk for hours while watching and listening to the nature around them. Sometimes they'd be plotting schemes to use in competitions, sometimes they'd just talk about whatever came to mind. It was part of how they were such a good doubles team - with all the hours they'd spent together, they'd managed to get in sync with each other. 

There was one old, enormous tree with sturdy branches that they found sometime during their second year, just before they first became Regulars in the tennis club. Since then, they would always climb that particular tree. It was "their spot," in a way - Niou had never brought anyone else here, and he was certain Yagyuu hadn't, either. Niou sought it out, and they each climbed onto a separate branch, leaving their schoolbags resting against the trunk. No one else ever came to this spot, so they could have a quiet, undisturbed talk. Niou knew better than to let Yagyuu stare at him while they were having this conversation - that could get pretty dangerous pretty quickly. He leaned back against the tree trunk, his legs stretched out in front of him, balancing on the branch. He knew Yagyuu was in the same position without even looking - it had always been like this. "Why didn't you ever talk to me about it? Why did it have to be Yanagi who first talked with me about it? Why did you have to start dating Mizutani? Why _me_, but no other guys?"

"Slow down, Niou. This isn't an inquisition." Yagyuu's voice drifted to him clearly from the branch below his and slightly to the right. "I don't know why it's only you - I just know that it has to be you. I never talked to you about it because I thought you liked girls. I didn't know, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship because of that. I don't think you were as close to Yanagi as you are to me, that's probably why he had less to lose, and why it was easier for him to tell you. Knowing Yanagi, he probably also knew that you liked guys."

"So why, now that I'm with Yanagi, are you suddenly willing to risk our friendship for this?"

"Niou, I don't want to risk our friendship. I care about you, and the team, too much for that. But... it's different if you're dating another guy. I've already come to terms with the idea of you not being with me because you wanted a girl. That I could accept - that would be because of something out of my control. But if it could be me, and it's not because I made a mistake and was too late - I can't handle that, Niou. I can't stand seeing you looking at him with those eyes when I know you could very well be looking at me."

Niou waited, but Yagyuu didn't continue. "You want to know how Yanagi asked me out? He said, 'I don't care if you like Yagyuu more than me. For you, I will wait.' Then, when I called you because I wanted to talk about it, you told me you were busy and asked me to wait."

"Niou, if I had known that's what it was about-"

"Let me finish." Without even looking, Niou knew that Yagyuu was probably pinching the bridge of his nose, underneath the nosepiece of his glasses. He knew Yagyuu's habits like the back of his hand - it was what gave him the idea for the switching project in the first place. "For the prefectural finals, you didn't say a word about my playing with Kirihara. It seemed like you didn't care who you played with, not because it could help our combination, but because you just didn't care. It seemed like it didn't have to be me. Yanagi was on the lookout for me that whole time. He knew I was having difficulty adjusting to the idea of you dating, and specifically wanted to give me time apart from you."

"Niou, you know that's not true."

"I'm not done yet. Yagyuu, you're my best friend. Aren't you supposed to be happy for me at a time like this? Even though I was really upset when I first found out that you were dating Mizutani, I just set it aside and tried to be happy for you, for our sake. Why can't you do the same for me?" Niou finished talking and looked down at Yagyuu. Indeed, Yagyuu was sitting in the same position he was, pinching the bridge of his nose just as Niou had predicted. "Now I'm finished."

"Niou, I care about our combination also. I just figured that since you were so eager to play with Kirihara, it didn't matter what I wanted. Besides, you guys were right in saying that we could grow even more by not playing together sometimes, especially when the opponents aren't a challenge at all. And I'm sorry I didn't take your call that day - I didn't know what was up and I was still trying to start a relationship and I thought that spending extra time with you instead of her would just confuse me even more. I cared for you too much; just being near you would make me wonder again why I was dating someone else." Yagyuu's words came out in a rush, like he'd been holding them in for a long time. "Niou, I... I think I'm in love with you." Yagyuu paused, letting his words sink in for the both of them. He didn't retract them, though. "I know you... care about me, too, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. I don't want to see you in another guy's arms. I can't."

"And yet it was so easy for you to kiss Mizutani and be all happy with her." Niou hated how bitter he sounded. It sounded like he still cared, like it still bothered him to just _think_ about Yagyuu with someone else. He didn't, right? He chose Yanagi. He was with Yanagi now. It didn't matter that Yagyuu used the word "love." Niou wasn't sure what to do with that, so he just filed it away to mull over later.

"I was confused. I thought I could pretend you were just my best friend and nothing more. I thought I could learn to love someone else, but Niou, I never told her I loved her. I was just trying to move on, and you can see how miserably that failed." Indeed, Yagyuu did sound miserable, about as miserable as Niou felt.

"I'm sorry, but I think you're just going to have to get used to the idea that I'm with Yanagi now, just like how you got used to the idea that maybe I liked girls and would never go out with you." Niou hopped out of the tree, landing gracefully on his feet. Picking up his schoolbag and brushing some wood chips off his pants, he pulled out his cell phone and started to walk away. He couldn't take more of this. He wasn't supposed to be the one breaking his best friend's heart. He conjured up pictures of Yagyuu kissing Mizutani, of Yanagi's confession, of anything to keep him sane.

Yagyuu jumped out of the tree right after Niou did. Grabbing onto Niou's arm, he stopped the other boy before he could get too far. "I won't give up this easily, Niou. I'm going to keep coming after you, because it's wrong that we're not together."

For the first time ever, Niou ignored Yagyuu. He snaked his arm loose from Yagyuu's grip and put his phone to his ear as he walked away. "Renji? Hey, it's me."

* * *

This whole story falls under "triangle," really. :whistles: I am teh amused.  
Faraday cage. XD The engineer in me couldn't resist.  
And really, this was supposed to be one part, but that wasn't quite as happy with either theme as the two themes separated, so I labeled them part 6 & 6.5. Yes, yes, I'm a cheater. :X Comments? 


	7. 026 Teammates

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Before they knew it, the Kantou tournament started. Strangely though, their first round opponents forfeited before the match even started. 

"I wonder if they ate something that disagreed with them." Marui looked at the box of cake he had prepared for the match, clearly wondering if he could eat them, now that he wasn't actually going to be playing.

"Marui, you know very well that you're not allowed sweets unless you're playing a match. You'll get diabetes otherwise." Jackal took the box from him.

"But!" Marui's eyes suddenly lit up. His back straightened and he gave a little hop. "How about if we have a practice match instead? We can go back to the school grounds and play a practice match - then, can I have the cake?" Jackal laughed and nodded. He very rarely denied his partner anything - it was obvious to any passerby that they were best friends. Niou remembered when he and Yagyuu were like that, too, before all this awkwardness developed between them. He wished it would disappear soon - life was funner when he could joke and laugh freely with Yagyuu.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Let's go, then. Are any of you guys going to come?"

"I kind of want to watch some of the other matches." Yanagi looked towards what was doubtless the Hyoutei-Seigaku match. Periodic eruptions of cheers had been coming from that direction for awhile, undeniably the work of Hyoutei's enormous cheering squad.

"Let's go then; I want to check out Seigaku's Golden Pair. I heard they're supposed to be really good." Niou looked over at Yagyuu, uncertain of what to say to him. They weren't supposed to have played together that day anyway, so it didn't matter that the match didn't happen. The damage was already made during the lineup decision. "We should check them out, Yagyuu. Rumor has it that Hyoutei's doubles one pair is also pretty good; whichever one of them wins is likely to be the one we face in finals."

"According to Yanagi, I suppose?" Yagyuu certainly wasn't going to go out of his way to make it easy for Niou and Yanagi. Apparently, hell has no wrath like a gentleman scorned, either.

"Yes, in fact. You can see the data for yourselves. Hyoutei and Seigaku are each other's only challenge on that side of the bracket." Yanagi pulled out a laminated sheet of the Nationals bracket and offered it to Yagyuu. Yagyuu didn't take it, though Kirihara sneaked a peak.

"I want to go also; I want to see Tezuka Kunimitsu play. He'll be playing Atobe Keigo, too. That should be doubly interesting."

"Actually, we should probably watch that match and report it back to Yukimura." Sanada always had the team on his mind, including which matches would be important for the future.

"You have the brackets _laminated_?" Niou raised an eyebrow, a grin tweaking at the corner of his mouth. He'd been discovering more and more of Yanagi's quirks everyday, and this was quite an amusing one. Notebooks, he could understand. Laminating the tournament bracket, though, was on an entirely different level of obsession.

In the end, everyone except Jackal and Marui headed over to the Hyoutei-Seigaku game. It wasn't the Golden Pair in doubles one, though. "Where's Oishi and Kikumaru?" Niou had picked up on their names when he first heard about a doubles team known as the "Golden Pair." He had showed the article to Yagyuu, and told him, "We have to be the Platinum Pair, then." Yagyuu had scoffed at the suggestion, but didn't disagree.

"Sadaharu." Yanagi's voice was kind of surprised, kind of shocked.

"Your elementary school friend? You still recognize him after all these years?" Niou looked up at Yanagi, whose expression was unreadable.

"Yes. He's improved."

"Duh, of course he's improved since elementary school. I'd like to think that elementary level players couldn't make it this far on the high school circuit." Kirihara rolled his eyes. "This is doubles one, right? How much time do you think we have before singles one?"

"With these teams, who knows. It could be over in an instant, it could drag on for a long time." Even though Yanagi was correctly responding to all the questions posed to him, Niou could tell his mind was clearly focused elsewhere. He studied Yanagi's gaze, the match, and back. He needed to make Yanagi tell the story of his and Inui Sadaharu's pairing and parting again sometime. Though Niou's intuition wasn't as sharp as Yanagi's, he still could tell when something was wrong.

Hyoutei won the doubles match, but neither Niou nor Yagyuu were impressed. "They can be silver or bronze or something. Or maybe they could be promoted to gold, depending on what happened to the Golden Pair. And that Seigaku pair is nothing to worry about. Renji, are you _sure_ you used to clean up doubles tournaments with that guy?" Niou winced when he saw Yagyuu grimace at his use of Yanagi's first name. He didn't like making his best friend suffer, but he also had a right to be happy and close to his, well, his boyfriend. They already were careful to tone it down when Yagyuu was around, but at some point, that had to stop. Yagyuu had to get over it - he was supposed to, as Niou's best friend.

While that was going on, the Seigaku doubles team had returned to their bench. Inui took out his notebook and started writing when he suddenly looked up. Yanagi's eyes met his briefly, before Inui returned to his notebook.

"He saw you, right, Yanagi-senpai? Why didn't he come say hi? What happened between you two?" Kirihara, it was to be noted, did not have any tact whatsoever.

"Nothing. He probably just didn't recognize me after so long." Yanagi was clearly hiding something, and Niou was determined to get it out of him later. Kirihara knew better than to keep questioning Yanagi when he refused though, and so the matter was dropped.

The third and second singles matches weren't very exciting; each of the Rikkai members knew they could take on any of the players. "I can't believe Seigaku is trying to have a power match when a footwork face-off would clearly work better." Yagyuu scoffed at singles three.

"Yagyuu, not everyone is as light-footed as you are." Niou grinned at him, but Yagyuu only stared back. Niou frowned, and turned his attention back to the game. He didn't see Yagyuu's expression soften into regret, nor the warning look that Yanagi sent Yagyuu's way.

"What's so special about those returns and volleys? Just use a serve that can't be returned; problem solved!" Kirihara wasn't just talent combined with evil - he was also pretty good at game-planning. After all, Yukimura was training him to be the next captain. The third years all kept their mouths shut. Sanada was waiting for the the next match, Yanagi was lost somewhere in his own mind, and Niou and Yagyuu were trying to avoid saying anything that would increase the tension by saying nothing at all. Unfortunately, the silence came with a brand of tension all its own.

When the long-awaited singles one match started, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Here was a match they could all get into. Atobe's little pre-match show made Sanada shake his head in annoyance. "That guy..."

"He needs to take himself less seriously and take tennis more seriously." Yagyuu's voice was carefully neutral as he kept his eyes locked on the match.

"Five hundred yen says Tezuka takes it."

"Masaharu, that would be rather unwise." Yanagi furrowed his eyebrows for a moment as he studied Tezuka's movements. "Atobe's insight will show him Tezuka's shoulder is weak, and he'll take the game."

"What's wrong with Tezuka's shoulder?" It wasn't like Kirihara to worry about the welfare of anyone, really. Perhaps he only cared when it was good players that he wanted to challenge and beat - he certainly was concerned enough about Yukimura.

"I don't actually know, but I'm sure we'll see it soon enough. Just watch."

Indeed, midway through the match, Tezuka collapsed on the courts, grabbing his left shoulder in what could only be described as agony. He refused to stop though, and eventually lost after a long tie-breaker. "How disappointing." Kirihara kicked a pebble as they walked to the bus station, clearly feeling gypped out of a high quality round.

"It was still a high caliber match though, Akaya. Atobe still played at his best, and Tezuka not at his best is still better than most. Plus, Seigaku's got itself quite an interesting freshman there." Yanagi walked behind Kirihara, with Niou at his side. Sanada and Yagyuu followed them - Sanada was already outlining the details of the match to Yukimura.

"Yea, it looks like Tezuka won't be playing at the Kantou finals, either. Their super-rookie? He was OK. Not great. I can see why Hiyoshi was the Hyoutei reserve though. Hiyoshi? The guy with the bowl haircut that kind of looks like a mushroom? Whatever, he's not important."

Niou snickered. He was the one who originally pointed out that Hyoutei's second year reserve player looked like a mushroom. It was a normal comment coming from him, though Yukimura must be thinking that Sanada had lost it.

"By the way, I heard that Oishi injured his wrist, and that was why he didn't play. Apparently we missed Kikumaru and one of their sophomores in doubles two. It was a last minute change, which was why Seigaku's doubles wasn't all that impressive." Yanagi had gone to have a brief chat with Inui after the match was over. Niou watched as they stood stiffly, both clearly uncomfortable with the situation. He wondered if he was just paranoid, but he could talk with Yanagi about that over dinner tomorrow.

"I see. Hopefully that'll heal before finals, then." It was statements like that that made people think Yagyuu was a polite gentleman, concerned for his opponents' welfare. Niou knew better, though - what Yagyuu really wanted was the Golden Pair to be in prime condition when he and Niou delivered the smackdown. Niou grinned. Oh what a smackdown they'd deliver, indeed.

* * *

Yes yes, I'm blatantly changing canon. It fits better this way though. :X  
I thought it was an appropriate time to take a break from our regularly scheduled angsty UST and talk a little about the tennis. Then I realized I could have the UST (not-so-)subtly interspersed within the tennis. :D  



	8. 052 Fire

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"You don't have to be so cold to Yagyuu, you know. He's going through a rough time, and we're still teammates. He's still my best friend." Niou understood that Yanagi was still worried about Yagyuu stealing him away, but he really couldn't stand to see the two most important people to him be so awkward and stiff around each other. 

Yanagi looked a bit surprised that Niou would bring up the subject of Yagyuu on their date. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"I know. And you don't have to worry. I've already made the choice to be with you. Yagyuu's the one who's going to have to deal with that, so I think you should try to make it easier for him." Niou took a sip of his iced tea. They'd just finished a picnic dinner in the park, hidden away from prying eyes by a grove of trees on one side, a large pond on the other, and the dark cloak of the evening all around them. The night sky was clear and the small crescent moon was reflected in the calm water. He leaned against Yanagi's shoulder.

"Are you tired?" Yanagi was very caring. He was almost too careful of Niou sometimes – it was as though he sometimes forgot that Niou was also one of the top high school tennis players of the nation. "Here." Yanagi shifted to sit behind Niou, pushing down gently on his shoulders. Uncertain of what was going on, but trusting that Yanagi always had his best interest in mind, Niou laid down such that his head rested on Yanagi's lap. "Close your eyes. Relax."

Niou felt Yanagi methodically stroking his hair lightly before his movements led his fingers to Niou's temples, where they stayed and rubbed in light circles. Niou didn't even realize how tense he'd been until Yanagi's thumbs met underneath his skull and started massaging his neck, starting from his top vertebrae and moving down, fingers never stopping their soothing actions at his temples. "That feels really good."

"You've been too worried about this, Masaharu. Your neck's really tense. It must be what was affecting your swings at practice today." Yanagi's data never left him. Before, Niou had thought that it was just the Yanagi he'd known at school who obsessed over data. As he was getting to know Yanagi better outside of club activities though, he was getting to understand that Yanagi always had data, because it was a part of him. He didn't have notebooks of data; he just had data. It was cool though, because Yanagi never pried when it wasn't in the club's best interest. Plus, he wasn't going to complain if the data got him a massage.

"I just don't like seeing him so unhappy, you know? I mean, he's been my best friend since the first day of middle school. He's supposed to be happy for me when I'm happy. My being happy isn't supposed to be causing him unhappiness." Niou moaned softly when Yanagi pressed his thumbs into the base of his skull, curled his fingers, and drew his knuckles around Niou's head, pressure hitting various spots that made him shiver with pleasure. He could almost feel the tension leaving his muscles. Yanagi did it again, and Niou saw a spark of white behind his eyes and sighed. The headache he hadn't even noticed he'd had disappeared.

"What do you see for us, if Yagyuu never gets used to this?" There was definite trepidation in Yanagi's voice. Niou was proud of himself for starting to be able to read the master himself, though he wished he were getting better vibes from him.

"He will." Niou sat up, turning around to look at Yanagi. "He has to." He leaned forward, balancing himself with a hand on the ground before pressing a reassuring kiss on Yanagi's mouth. Yanagi responded, parting his lips and shifting so that he was kneeling over Niou, gently caressing Niou's neck with one hand while simultaneously pulling him close and rubbing his back with the other. Niou moved to encircle Yanagi's waist with his arms, letting the moment just take over him. Yanagi's tongue slipped inside Niou's mouth, and Niou let it twist and twine around his own tongue as he slowly forgot to breathe.

"Masaharu." Yanagi's voice was husky, with a different, sexual undertone to it. He leaned forward and Niou felt himself being gently laid down on the picnic cloth, their eyes never parting. Yanagi's eyes were caring, questioning. Loving. Yanagi blew out the candles and leaned over him, caging Niou underneath his body. Niou didn't stop him. He felt Yanagi's hands moving underneath his shirt, skimming over his waist and lower back.

"Renji." Niou moaned as Yanagi pushed a leg between his. Blood rushed from his head, his pants tightening as Yanagi's thigh rubbed against him. "Ohhhh Renji."

"Masaharu, say the word and I'll stop. But if you don't..." Yanagi didn't need to finish his sentence. Niou could feel Yanagi's erection pressing, hot and urgent, against his own thigh, even through two layers of clothing.

"Don't stop."

After school the next day, Niou found a red rose in his locker. It was just barely starting to bloom, the base still tightly closed with only the tips starting to  
point outward. Despite his insistence that he wasn't a girl and refusal to let Yanagi pay for dates or walk him home, Niou still smiled at seeing it placed neatly across his school shoes, with a short note balanced across the stem. "I love you." He carefully put it in his schoolbag with the stem tucked between his books and the bud stick out over it so as to not get crushed, and hurried to practice. 

"Niou, just in time. We were just discussing a doubles match against Marui and Jackal, as each other." Yagyuu caught Niou just as he walked into the changing room, preventing him from first speaking with Yanagi.

"Sure. Give me your shoes, then." His plan was coming along amazingly well. His laser beam was faster than anyone else's imitation - even Yagyuu had been impressed by it - and Yagyuu was getting very good at playing lefty. Since the others were waiting for him, he changed quickly and only had time to squeeze Yanagi's hand before heading out to the courts.

* * *

I did originally write a higher rating scene in part 8, but I took it out per FFN guidelines - hence the posting two parts simultaneously to compensate for the shortness of this one. The original, uncut part 8 is here (http://akakurogin. livejournal. com/ 28845. html - remove the spaces. FFN wouldn't let me post the link any other way.) if you're old enough to read it.  
The next part should be interesting as we return to our regularly scheduled programming... 


	9. 054 Air

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Even though he wasn't normally one for sentimentality, Niou hung the rose on his wall to let it dry. The note he tucked into his ID case, neatly hidden behind his ID card so that only he knew it was there. He wasn't sure if his feelings for Yanagi were quite that strong yet though, so he didn't say anything about it.

Niou whistled as he waited at the bus stop the day of Kantou finals. His life was pretty good. He had a boyfriend who occasionally left him notes in his locker, each of which he kept in a box in a corner of his desk. Yagyuu had backed off after their talk, and their close friendship picked right back up. They were going to partner that day, in fact.

"Yagyuu, why do you have Niou's bag?" Sanada seemed honestly confused when he first arrived at the bus stop. Niou grinned as understanding washed over his vice captain. "Wait, you're... Niou?"

Sanada was the only one who hadn't seen the two of them in makeup yet, so Niou was pretty happy with the reaction he received. "Yup. Surprised?"

"Are you sure this is going to work? You can't lose."

Niou sighed. Sanada had been concerned about his plan from the start, and had only let them practice when Yanagi pointed out that Niou and Yagyuu being able to do each other's signature moves only meant twice the destructive power. "It'll be fine, Sanada. They won't know what hit them. Just watch."

"Genichirou. Yagyuu." Yanagi walked up to them, clearly preoccupied with something else. Niou raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Sanada. Yanagi had to be really out of it to neither remember that Yagyuu and Niou were switching places, nor recognize that it was Niou standing in front of him, not Yagyuu.

"We're just missing Niou and Kirihara now, huh?" Jackal and Marui walked up. They still had a few minutes before the bus arrived, but Sanada pulled out his cell phone to make sure the two stragglers were at least awake. Niou winked at Marui before he corrected Jackal's statement.

"Renji." Niou adjusted his glasses in perfect imitation of Yagyuu.

That seemed to snap Yanagi out of his stupor as he glared at Yagyuu briefly. The glare faded into confusion, and then understanding as the rest of the team started laughing. "There it is." Marui had a wide grin across his face as he popped a stick of gum in his mouth.

"Wow. I didn't realize the makeup was that good." Yanagi moved to stand by Niou, gently brushing a stray strand of hair back into place.

"I spent an extra fifteen minutes perfecting it this morning." Niou grinned. Yanagi smiled gently in response. Niou cocked his head to the side. "Are you OK?"

"Yea, yea. I'm just a little worried."

"Don't be. Everything's going to be OK. We're going to win, and give Yukimura the championship before his surgery. Then, his surgery's going to go well, and everything will be OK." Niou squeezed Yanagi's hand as Kirihara ran up, Yagyuu not far behind.

"Huh? What's going on between you two? Am I still sleeping?" Kirihara rubbed his eyes, yawning, just as the bus pulled up.

"Look closer - that's Niou. You should stop playing so many video games and go to sleep earlier." Yagyuu's hand twitched, but he didn't move it to his face. Niou grinned - it had taken awhile, but he had managed to train Yagyuu out of compulsively reaching for his glasses when he needed something to do with his hands. Kirihara stared, muttered something about how the seniors shouldn't be playing tricks with his mind so early in the morning, and promptly fell asleep as soon as he got on the bus.

"Finally, we get to play the Golden Pair." Yagyuu appeared as excited as Niou felt. Niou enjoyed kicking the asses of players who thought they were good. He especially enjoyed utterly destroying other supposedly good doubles teams with Yagyuu.

"Play nice now, Niou." Niou smiled, though he couldn't help letting a little secretiveness slip into the curve of his lips. It wasn't as though Seigaku could read that anyway.

When Yagyuu screwed up and hit the real laser beam, Niou grinned. Now the fun would actually start. "Can you believe the look on their faces, Yagyuu?" He handed the glasses back to Yagyuu, "Come on, we've got a game to win." Indeed, the rest of the match was a breeze. The Golden Pair couldn't even touch any of Yagyuu's real lasers, and they were still recovering from the shock when Niou delivered the finishing blow.

"Game-set! Won by Rikkai, Niou-Yagyuu pair! Six-games-to-one!"

Niou pumped his fist in the air, receiving an answering gesture from Yagyuu. He grabbed Yanagi's hand in a half-victory, half-good luck shake as they passed each other on the courts. Yagyuu climbed to the top of the bleachers with him after he'd pulled out his weights to start his post-match exercises, sitting down a little bit away from main crowd gathered to watch the match. "I told you we'd beat them. If they're gold, then we are so platinum."

Yagyuu gently rolled his eyes, smiling as his breathing slowed back to normal. Even though they didn't want to admit it, the match had been slightly harder than they'd expected. As Yanagi's match against his old partner, Inui Sadaharu, started, Yagyuu suddenly spoke. "Did you get my present the other day?"

"What present?" Niou was genuinely confused. He thought back to the last time he saw Yagyuu, and the time in between, and couldn't think of anything.

"That Monday after octofinals. I was wondering why you hadn't said anything yet. I put a rose in your locker, along with a note? I've been leaving you notes in your locker these past two weeks; maybe I've gotten the wrong locker or something." Yagyuu clearly didn't look like he thought he'd mixed up the lockers. It was clear from the tone of his voice that he knew perhaps Niou had just thought those were from Yanagi.

"That was from you? Those... those were from you?" Niou's eyes widened in shock.

"Niou, don't tell me that after all these years of copying my notes, you still don't recognize my handwriting?" Yagyuu was definitely enjoying this. Gentleman or not, Niou was still absolutely certain that Yagyuu's sadistic streak ran a mile wider and deeper than his own.

"Your handwriting is really generic!" Niou was getting too worked up over this. Yanagi glanced over at them from the courts, and Niou gave him a thumbs-up sign.

"Then you couldn't recognize it as not Yanagi's?" When Niou sputtered, Yagyuu continued. "Niou. I told you. I love you, and I know you love me. You're just confused, because Yanagi got to you before I did. I'm sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn't have tried to forget about you, I should have told you how I felt from the start. But you don't have to keep punishing the both of us for this. Yanagi, too - don't you think this is hurting him as well, the longer you go on with this little revenge of your's?"

"You're wrong. I don't love you. I'm with Yanagi."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me, and that you love Yanagi. If you can do that, I promise, I'll stop bothering you."

He knew it was a bad idea to ever, _ever_ look Yagyuu Hiroshi in the eyes when he wanted something. That was why he'd refused to face him for their first talk about their situation. He knew it, but he did it because Yagyuu's promises were as good as gold. Niou put his weights down and turned to look at Yagyuu. "I..." Yagyuu had taken off his glasses again, and his eyes looked straight at Niou, unhindered by any wires or pieces of glass. Niou received the full brunt of the intensity of Yagyuu's gaze, and he just _felt_ how Yagyuu's eyes were full of, yes, that was definitely love. His resolve shattered. He tried to look over at the match, to remind himself of who his boyfriend was and why he was saying these words, but he couldn't because Yagyuu's eyes were so green, so warm, so familiar, so full of love - all for him. "I don't..."

Yagyuu leaned forward, touching their lips together. "...love you." Niou's words were barely a whisper. His desperate attempt to finish his statement against Yagyuu's mouth only granted Yagyuu the opportunity to tilt his head and deepen the kiss. Niou's eyes fell shut of their own volition as Yagyuu raised a hand to caress his neck. He grasped on to that hand and the world spiraled away as the man that he'd dreamed of for weeks slipped his tongue inside his mouth, gently running it along his teeth and sliding it against Niou's own tongue. He forgot to breathe - no, he didn't need to, because Yagyuu was his air. He could finally breathe again.

"Love you, too," Yagyuu whispered back to him, pressing their foreheads together. Even though the cheering around them was deafeningly loud - something exciting must have happened in the match - Niou could still hear Yagyuu's words as if he were the only one speaking.

"Yagyuu-"

"Use my name."

"Yagyuu."

"Masaharu. I'm going to keep saying it until you believe me. I'm never going to give up on you. I love you. I love _you_. I. Love. You."

"Yagyuu." Niou hated that his eyes were suddenly wet, and was glad they were still closed so he didn't have to look at Yagyuu.

"Stubborn." Yagyuu pressed another kiss to Niou's lips, and Niou could taste a salty wetness on Yagyuu's lips that wasn't there before.

"Game-set! Won by Seigaku, Inui! Seven-games-to-six!"

"Oh shit."

* * *

SAP! Oh well, Yagyuu's like that, in my head.  
And I know I'm blatantly changing parts of what happened in the manga, but meh. P  



	10. 019 White

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"Yagyuu, you shouldn't have done that. I thought we were over this." Niou gave his partner a warning look full of anger. He glanced away immediately, for fear of being subjected to Yagyuu's eyes again. Instead, he looked down at where Yanagi and Inui were shaking hands. 

"Do you want me to talk to Yanagi? I'll let him know that he's keeping you from what you really want."

"Which is you? What makes you so sure you know what I want?" Now Niou was upset. He was a no less an intelligent, rational human being than the rest of them - he could tell for himself what he wanted and didn't want. Right now, he didn't want Yagyuu. Right?

"Because Masaharu, I _am_ you."

"You're what? Never mind, we'll talk later." Niou watched as Yanagi, defeated, stood in front of Sanada. Sanada raised his arm and Niou winced, knowing full well the sting of Sanada's blow, but also knowing that there was no reason big enough to justify Yanagi's loss at this critical time. That was why he was surprised when Kirihara jumped off the bleachers between the two tallest members of their team, using his racket to block Sanada's blow. Niou was too far away to hear their exchange, but Kirihara's words seemed to somehow pacify Sanada. Niou's throat suddenly dried as Yanagi looked up at him, his expression unreadable, before taking a seat in front of Jackal.

Niou hopped down the bleachers three rows at a time. "Renji, can I talk to you?"

"Akaya's match is about to start. We can talk later." Yanagi's voice was emotionless, like the master's voice was supposed to be. The only thing was, it wasn't supposed to be that way when he talked to Niou - with Niou, Yanagi's walls were supposed to be down and Yanagi Renji was supposed to be there, behind it. He sat down next to Yanagi, close enough to feel the heat emanating from Yanagi's body. Yanagi scooted away, and Niou's heart dropped.

"We're on our way over. Yanagi lost in a tiebreaker; the others won. Both doubles six-one, Akaya six-love. We're about five minutes away; we'll be there soon with the medal." How Sanada could speak so normally while running, Niou would never figure out. They'd gone through the awards ceremony in a hurry, with Jackal constantly updating them on how many minutes they had before Yukimura's surgery. It was supposed to be a time of glory for them, continuing on their path to a repeat victory at Nationals, but none of them were even thinking about the match. As soon as they finished the last round of bows and thank yous, the champions Rikkai pretty much just picked up their bags and ran - uncustomary, but understandable.

They must've made quite a sight, bursting through the hospital doors sweaty and slightly winded in their uniforms, each the perfect image of health in a place meant to heal the unhealthy. No second was wasted on directions as they rounded corners like they owned the place, knowing the exact route they needed to take to intercept Yukimura before he was put under general anesthesia.

"Captain!" Marui was the first to spot Yukimura on the stretcher, being rolled towards the anesthesia wing. The nurses stopped, letting Sanada present the medal to the weakened Yukimura. He didn't look like the top high school tennis player in all of Japan, but Niou remembered the ass-kicking he had received on numerous occasions from Yukimura. They each took their turn getting berated by their captain for losing a game. Even Kirihara was blamed for stopping Yanagi's punishment.

Sanada was the last to talk to Yukimura before the nurse wheeled him away. He bent close to Yukimura's ear and whispered something too softly for the rest of them to hear. From the way that Yukimura's smile brightened just a little and the few seconds too long that Sanada's hand covered Yukimura's over the medal, Niou could easily guess what Sanada had said. Maybe Sanada wasn't as blind as the rest of them assumed. Sanada exchanged a glance with Yanagi, and Niou realized that Sanada was indeed clueless, but Yanagi was not. The nurse handed the medal back to Sanada - it wasn't sterile and so couldn't go into the operating room - and they were silent as the nurse wheeled him away, Sanada gripping the medal so tightly his knuckles were white. The next several hours were going to be nerve-wracking, but they were prepared for that. They had never expected to go through anything like this as a team, but they were the champions; they could get through anything together.

Time seemed to just flow past Niou, as though he were a spectator watching the waiting Rikkai Tennis Club through a one-way window, like those in the detective movies Yanagi liked to watch. At some point, Kirihara had pulled out a Gameboy and was now listlessly tapping away at the keys. Marui had gotten some more gum from the vending machine down the hall and was making a chain out of the paper wrappers. Niou kept rotating in his seat, sometimes lying down on a bench, sometimes propping his legs against the disgustingly white wall and letting his head and back hang down, sometimes slouching in the seat with one ankle propped on the other knee. Finally, he jumped up, unable to sit still any longer. "Renji, we need to talk." He grabbed Yanagi's wrist and pulled him to a corner of the waiting room. They had enough time to kill, after all, and the tension would only get worse as that time passed. "Renji, that, what happened, it was a mistake."

"No it wasn't." Yanagi refused to even look at him. Niou leaned against a wall, tired and frustrated. He didn't need this now. It had been a long day, and the wait during Yukimura's surgery was more stressful than the entire tournament put together had been. They were almost ensured victory at Kantou; Yukimura's chances were much much slimmer.

"Yes it was. I told you, Renji, I chose you." He felt like he was just repeating the same words again and again, but if they were the ones Yanagi needed to hear, he'd repeat them a thousand times.

"Please address me more formally, Niou."

Niou squeezed his eyes shut, slamming his fist against the wall, the annoying bright, freshly whitewashed walls that smelled of disinfectant and hospital. He was going to hate that color from now on, he really was. He knew Sanada was probably giving his back a disapproving look, but he couldn't care less. Why couldn't Yanagi just accept that he'd made a mistake? "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He surprised me. I-"

"You had plenty of time to stop it, Niou. I served four times while he kissed you, and you kissed him back. But you didn't, because you wanted it. You chose me out of guilt, not because you actually care more about me than him. Look into your heart. It's OK. I forgive you." Yanagi sounded tired. His back slouched just a tad more than usual, and his head wasn't held proud and high anymore. It hung forward, letting Yanagi look down at his feet instead of ahead at Niou.

"If you forgive me, then-"

"I didn't forgive you for that. I forgive you for not knowing that you really want Yagyuu. It was partly my fault anyway, for thinking that I could maybe keep you, just because I got to you first. Thank you for trying to stay with me, but we can't keep going like this anymore. It'll only get worse." Yanagi started to walk past Niou, back where the others were sitting restlessly. Niou's next words stopped him.

"I thought you said you didn't care if I liked Yagyuu more than you." Niou was trying anything, everything, to keep together the relationship that had been keeping him happy. He leaned against the wall. The air conditioner had significantly cooled his overheated skin, and now he was actually kind of cold.

"That was when I thought Yagyuu didn't return your feelings. If he's my competition though - I know when I'll lose. I know when to back down." Yanagi didn't even turn to face him when he spoke.

"But you're wrong. You won't lose."

"Niou, have you ever thought that sometimes, maybe you unconsciously trick yourself? That you make yourself believe in something that's not true?" Yanagi walked away without looking back, most likely to talk to Sanada or Kirihara.

Niou wrapped his arms around himself. He felt warm arms smoothing his jacket over his shoulders and down his arms, and turned around into a warm chest. "Renji-"

"No, it's me." Yagyuu rubbed his back and the windbreaker rustled. "He's given you up, can't you accept his gift?" Niou sighed, but he neither complained nor pushed away when Yagyuu hugged him, hard enough to make breathing just a little difficult. He just didn't care.

"Yagyuu-"

"Call me Hiroshi."

"Yagyuu."

"Stubborn." Yagyuu tucked Niou's head under his chin and lightly stroked Niou's hair, wisely not saying another word.

* * *

I couldn't do it. Rikkai couldn't lose. I didn't like it when they lost in the manga, and since this is my story, I get to change the events. :D  



	11. 037 Sound

Title: Fictional Truth   
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

Everyone was silent as the clock ticked away the minutes, then hours. The room was so tense that Niou was often tempted to make a joke just to relax the group a little. At least their teammates were wise enough to not ask why Niou took a seat opposite Yanagi, with Yagyuu next to him, instead of the other way around. Yanagi was the first to pull out a textbook and start studying. One by one, they each pulled out a book to study from. After all, it wouldn't do to get academic probation and not be able to play in Nationals. Besides, it was kind of amusing watching Kirihara make funny faces as he tried to silently shape English words with his mouth. It at least toned down the awkwardness of the tension. 

An hour later though - or maybe less, since each minute felt like an hour - even that got old. "So Sanada, are you ever going to tell us what you said to Yukimura that made him smile like that?" Niou couldn't stand the silence anymore. Cliché as it may sound, the silence really was deafening. Even if his question was entirely inappropriate, it was still better than staring at the same page of his calculus book for another hour, afraid to move a muscle because that would make his windbreaker rustle, and then everyone would look up at him over their textbooks to see what he was doing to cause the rustling and it was all just so deeply _frustrating_. Instead, Sanada just glared at him from his stance leaning against the wall in between the two rows of chairs.

"Oh come on Sanada, spill." Marui also looked relieved at having something to talk about. Sanada was quick to glare at him as well.

"He probably told Yukimura that he'd be waiting in his bedroom with a dozen red roses when he returned." That would definitely earn him laps, but it was worth it to see Sanada's face turn red like that.

"Niou, fifty extra laps Monday morning." Sanada didn't sound as intimidating when his face was contorted and the tips of his ears were flushed from either anger or embarrassment, or perhaps both. Niou just grinned - he was used to the extra laps by now. It had actually gotten to the point where it was actually strange when he didn't get assigned penalty laps. "Yanagi, Kirihara, you two will be joining him."

"What? Why me? I won!" Although Kirihara sounded agitated, it was also obvious that he'd already accepted his laps. Kirihara was assigned laps more often than Niou - sometimes, Niou thought it would be more efficient if Kirihara just had extra laps as part of his training and was occasionally granted a reprieve when he was good.

"For stopping Yanagi's punishment. You know the rule of Rikkai; that didn't help our reputation. And, Yanagi, would you care to explain your loss today?"

Niou winced. He glanced at Yanagi, suddenly wishing he hadn't opened his mouth. There was simply no explanation that Sanada would understand that Yanagi would say in front of the rest of them.

"I am sorry. He surprised me, and I didn't recover fast enough." Yanagi's voice was even. He looked unflinchingly at Sanada the whole time, never allowing his gaze to travel to Niou. Niou felt Yagyuu's hand rub his knee comfortingly. He didn't brush it away.

"How will you prevent future repeats?" It had been awhile since Sanada last grilled one of them after a loss. Niou remembered when he had been on the receiving end of those and couldn't say he cared for it. He couldn't remember Yanagi having ever received one, though, and wished fervently that he was still staring at a page about second derivatives and concavity instead of having initiated this particular conversation.

"I was too arrogant. I will expect more of my opponents and be prepared for any possibility." Yanagi had clearly been expecting the post-loss "talk" and had his response entirely planned out.

"How will you make it up to the team - to Yukimura?"

"Genichirou, I think I already made it up to Seiichi." Yanagi's mouth twitched. Strangely, Sanada let that one slide. There were times when the three demons of Rikkai understood each other deeper than the rest of the team, but this one was pretty obvious. Yanagi had given Yukimura a vice captain-shaped apology. Why Sanada didn't get mad though, was apparently going to remain a secret between them. "And I'll run twenty extra laps every morning until Nationals start."

Then and there, Niou decided that he'd join Yanagi for those runs. The loss was mostly his fault, after all. He deserved the punishment more than Yanagi did.

"You kids are the ones waiting for Yukimura Seiichi, right?" A young nurse walked into the room and was immediately taken aback when the seven teenage boys jumped to attention, rushing forward only to stop in a messy semicircle just a bare two feet away from her.

"Yes, do you have news on his condition?" Sanada, despite being in the back of the group looking over Marui's shoulder, still held the most command in the room.

"The surgery went smoothly. We won't know if it was successful for a few days, but all indicators point to success. Only his family is allowed to see him right now - you may see him when he is completely taken off the anesthesia in about an hour, but he probably won't wake until tomorrow." The poor lady was so dwarfed by the Rikkai Regulars that her face was showing just a little bit of fear, and her words were rattled off with rehearsed precision.

Niou breathed a sigh of relief, and could feel his teammates do the same around him. It literally felt like a weight had been taken off their collective chests as the nurse left and they scattered back to the various positions they'd been waiting in earlier, each taking a break to stretch some stiff muscles. "I'm going to take a walk," he declared, stuffing his textbook back into his tennis bag.

"I'll go with you," Yagyuu quickly volunteered. Niou didn't reject the offer. He wasn't sure yet what to make of the whole thing, and the stress of worrying over Yukimura hadn't helped him think. Now that they knew Yukimura would be OK though, he could start thinking about his own life again.

They wandered aimlessly for awhile, side-by-side, without speaking a word. Niou studied how he had to take five strides for every four of Yagyuu's - he had never before taken the time to notice that. Actually, to be correct, he had never before been so unable to start a conversation with Yagyuu to notice. It was just like the silence in the waiting room all over again, except at least he was moving this time.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a vending machine, and Yagyuu pulled some change out of his pocket to get an iced oolong tea for Niou and green tea for himself. Niou accepted it without protesting, looking directly into Yagyuu's eyes as he let their fingers brush. He and Yagyuu had been spent so much time together over the past several years that they knew each other's tastes perfectly. It had never felt awkward before when they were alone - it shouldn't be this hard to find words to say to Yagyuu. "Thanks, Hiroshi." Yagyuu smiled gently at him. Niou felt an arm encircle his shoulders and didn't resist as it pulled him against a hard chest. "I was so worried." He didn't expect to whisper, but he couldn't muster any more strength to put behind his words.

"Me too." Yagyuu's response was equally soft. Even so, there was a torrent of emotions in it - happiness, relief, possibly regret, and others Niou couldn't pin a description to. "Me too. But he's OK. He'll be OK. He'll be back on the courts before you know it, yelling at us about how terrible our form is."

Niou nodded. "I can't wait." There was so much more they needed to talk about, it was hard figuring out where to start. So he finally started with the most recent thought on his mind. "You do realize we both have to apologize to Yanagi, right?"

A few minutes after they joined the others in the waiting room, the nurse let them go in to see Yukimura. Without his headband keeping the stray strands of hair not pulled into his ponytail away from his face, and with his face relaxed in sleep, Yukimura didn't look anything like captain they all feared and respected. He did, however, look like the friend they had lunch with in the school courtyard and fought over pieces of meat with when they went for yakiniku. Sanada set the medal on the nightstand next to the bed, so that Yukimura could see it first thing when he woke up.

"Let's go." Jackal ushered the rest of them out of the room, leaving Sanada behind to spend a moment alone with the sleeping boy.

"So, who thinks Sanada's kissing him right now?" Niou raised his hand, grinning. They all burst into laughter and were unable to stop until they were all kneeling or sitting on the floor, gasping for breath, several minutes later. It wasn't that his words were all that funny - they were just so relieved that it all came rushing out at the slightest catalyst, like a dam bursting because of a tiny hole.

* * *

About Yagyuu. I was a little concerned about his pushiness and where I had my sources for it, so I went to read his 20.5 bio again - "If you were to randomly encounter Yagyuu, you would probably never think that _he was the main advocate for war_ on the team that makes Nationals-level players tremble in fear. No matter where he is, his speech and conduct are always gentlemanly, but _he really is the king when it comes to tenacity in achieving a win_." Although, Yanagi supposedly "gets along with him fairly well." :X I still think perhaps he was lacking in the gentlemanly conduct a little, but love can make people stupid...  



	12. 063 Summer

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG   
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

On the bus ride home, Niou called to let his mother know that he was going to Yagyuu's for dinner. As soon as they dropped their bags off in Yagyuu's room, the two of them sequestered themselves in the bathroom Yagyuu shared with his sister to dye their hair back to normal. "Did you bring the dye?" Yagyuu asked, locking the door behind him as he walked in with several extra towels and a large trash bag. 

"Yes." Niou's chalk-white look - the product of a failed attempt to scare Yukimura that he ended up liking enough to keep - didn't suit Yagyuu's more traditional, tame hairstyle. Likewise, Niou had kept bleaching his hair after the first time their third year of junior high, and just looked weird with brown hair. By the time they finished that, Yagyuu's mother had already called them down for dinner twice.

The dining room was silent after the initial greetings, as everyone picked up their chopsticks and started eating. After several meals at Yagyuu's house over their years knowing each other, Niou had learned that mealtime at the Yagyuu household was typically a quiet affair, since too much excitement while eating was apparently bad for digestion. He didn't think that was true - he always talked while eating and digested just fine - but he also wasn't interested in arguing with Yagyuu's dad. Yagyuu's mother, however, would occasionally question after her son's affairs. "Did you boys have a nice day in Tokyo today?"

"Yes. We won the Kantou finals, and Yukimura's surgery was very successful." All it really took was one visit to the Yagyuu household to see why Yagyuu always maintained such a polite exterior. He responded to his parents in the most polite ways possible, always in complete sentences and never raising his voice.

"Congratulations!" Yagyuu's mother smiled at her son, while his father glanced at him for the first time since they had begun eating. If it were his family, Niou knew his parents would be asking all about how each game went, and how Yukimura was doing, if perhaps they should send flowers or call his parents. Niou ate quickly, wanting dinner to just be over.

After they finished and excused themselves - it's his sister's turn to do the dishes, Yagyuu explained - they went up to the rec room for a game of pool The Yagyuu family had an awesome rec room that his father occasionally used but was mostly left empty for the family's teenage boy and his friends. Yagyuu broke with a loud clack, giving just a glimpse of how much power his wiry frame hid. As usual, Yagyuu won the game in under six rounds. Niou wasn't particularly bad at pool, but Yagyuu was pretty amazing. "You secretly practice every night, don't you." It was a familiar grumble from Niou as they pushed the remaining balls into the pockets and hung up their cue sticks.

"No, I'm just that good." The response was also a familiar one. Yagyuu wasn't given to arrogance any more than any other boy their age, but the longstanding joke between them had at some point lost all meaning other than just the tradition of being said each time Yagyuu beat Niou. They pulled out their homework and sat on the floor facing each other across the coffee table that has been against the wall of the rec room supposedly since before Yagyuu could remember. Every summer break, Yagyuu made sure Niou spent time every day doing some of his homework so he wasn't taxed with unfinished work the weekend of Nationals finals, right before school started again.

"Hiro, can you help me with this problem?" As usual, Niou had zoned out during the part in class where their chemistry teacher had gone over this particular subject. As usual, Yagyuu had been paying careful attention and explained it concisely to Niou. One time, back in junior high, Yagyuu had asked Niou why he didn't pay more attention in class. Niou's response was, "Because you explain it so much better anyway."

The only thing that changed was that when it reached eleven-thirty and Niou had to go to home, Yagyuu also changed his shoes. "I'll walk you home."

"You don't have to do that. I'm not a girl; I can walk a couple blocks by myself." Niou wondered why it was that he was like a girl in this whole drama involving Yanagi and Yagyuu. He wasn't particularly girlish - hell, Yanagi was more feminine than he in many aspects.

"I don't think you're a girl; I just want to spend more time with you. How about I walk half the way with you?" Yagyuu's response was one that Yanagi had never bothered to give, but instead the compromise that Niou always suggested. The night air was pleasant, and for the first time in a long while, Niou actually felt relaxed. They talked about Nationals - Niou had been watching the videos he'd taped of all the televised Wimbledon doubles matches, and had a new formation he wanted to try out.

"Wait, my house was two streets back." Niou stared at the convenience store across the intersection where they were stopped and realized he'd been so engrossed in describing the play-by-play to Yagyuu that he'd completely forgotten about going home and walked right past his house.

"Oh. You're right." Yagyuu didn't seem even the slightest bit fazed. Niou studied his face, but it was impossible to tell if Yagyuu had noticed and just didn't say anything. They turned back in silence, and Niou didn't protest when Yagyuu turned towards his house with him instead of heading back to his own. At the front door, Yagyuu leaned forward and kissed Niou on his left temple.

"I'll see you at practice on Monday. Bring me the tape - I want to see it."

"Yea." If it weren't for the kiss, and if Niou didn't know any better, he would've sworn their evening was really as "just friends." Yagyuu was honoring his promise to take it as slowly as Niou wanted, and he was grateful for that.

As they ran their extra laps Monday morning, Kirihara fell into pace beside Niou. Yanagi had come in early and did his already - Niou would have to come in earlier if he was going to run Yanagi's punishment laps with him. Since school had let out for break the week prior, their practices were longer and in the mornings only so they could avoid the afternoon heat. "Niou-senpai, what happened to Yanagi-senpai?"

"What do you mean?" Niou glanced at the junior, who was looking at him innocently.

"He shouldn't have lost that match. He was winning, and when Inui threw away his data, that only made him weaker, right? So it should have been even easier Yanagi-senpai." Kirihara wasn't supposed to be so sharp. He slept through lots of things and mostly rattled off tennis statistics and got into heated discussions with Yukimura about strategy when awake and fully conscious.

"Why don't you ask him?" Niou looked ahead as he rounded a corner, hoping that the conversation was over.

"I actually wanted to ask you something, senpai." Ever since Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi had schooled Kirihara in tennis a year ago, Kirihara had become unfailingly polite to his seniors, even the ones he repeatedly beat in singles and even the ones not on in the tennis club.. "Is it true that you and Yanagi broke up?"

Niou was proud of not even missing a beat. "Sure." He hadn't even realized news of their dating was so widespread, much less word of their breakup. There was no use in hiding it, though.

"Do you mind if maybe I confessed to him?" Kirihara's words were questioning, but the conviction he said them with told Niou more than the words themselves did.

"You like Yanagi?"

"He's nice to me. And he really likes tennis - he's really good at strategy. I like watching him." Kirihara spoke softly and looked straight ahead, instead of at Niou. There was undeniably a tone of passion in his voice, deep and well-hidden like an underground torrent.

Niou chuckled. Who knew the demon spawn had a crush, and on Yanagi Renji, no less? "I don't mind. In fact, let me know if I can help in any way." His mind was already spinning, thinking about what Yanagi would like.

"Can you really? You could probably come up with something good. The only thing I could think of was to ask him to tutor me in English, then thank him by taking him out to dinner or something, but that's so contrived. And I'd have to study English." The last sentence was added on almost as an afterthought. Kirihara hated English with a passion, and Niou laughed at Kirihara's grimace when he realized what his plan would mean.

"You should study your English anyway. Don't want to fail in the middle of Nationals." An idea suddenly popped into Niou's head, and the smiled that stole over his face was the one that had never failed to land him in hot water.

"I know that smile; Marui-senpai told me to always be wary when you have that one on." Kirihara was a sharp one, that was for sure. Hopefully, he'd still be up for Niou's idea, though. He couldn't even imagine what Yanagi's face would look like.

"Call me tonight and we'll discuss it."

"Masaharu, what're you planning now?" Yagyuu immediately noticed something was up after practice finished and they were finding some place to grab lunch before heading over to the library to do some more homework. Niou knew his face probably gave Yagyuu all the hints he needed.

"Is it that obvious?"

"To me, yes. I always know when you're up to something."

"Well, this one doesn't involve you, so you'll just have to wait and see. I'm in the mood for soba - how's that sound?" Niou grinned and Yagyuu shook his head, smiling back at him.

"Fine."

* * *

This part was just incredibly difficult to bang out. I did re-outline it till the end though, so hopefully it'll be smooth sailing till then (even though I reoutline every couple of chapters.) Also, my outlines are all written in present tense, then I change to past tense when writing. Feel free to point out any discontinuities... 

So, any guesses where Niou ends up:P


	13. 055 Spirit

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"With all due respect, Niou-senpai, have you lost your mind?" Kirihara sounded entirely incredulous over the phone, and Niou didn't blame him.

Niou lay on his bed, one leg bent and the other crossed over it, foot swinging in the air. "Yes, a long time ago. So, are you going to do it?"

"Do you really think this will work?"

"As well as anything else." Actually, Niou wasn't sure if anything would work. He didn't think Yanagi had any interest in Kirihara beyond that of a teammate. Really, sending Yanagi on a scavenger hunt was just for fun, and perhaps to give Yanagi some time alone to think before Kirihara sprung it on him.

After practice on Saturday, Niou and Kirihara initiated their plan. Niou slipped a piece of paper into Yanagi's tennis bag while he was in the shower and gave Kirihara the thumbs up sign. Niou went to Yanagi's house and hid across the street, waiting for Yanagi to arrive home. When Yanagi left his house again, dressed in normal clothes and holding a slip of paper, looking very confused, Niou pulled out his cell phone and text messaged Kirihara, who should be waiting at point one. "He's on his way."

Niou didn't wait long at point two. As soon as he finished convincing the shopgirl to not tell Yanagi anything and paid for the card, his cell vibrated with a message from Kirihara saying that Yanagi had found their second message at the arcade and should be on his way. Clearly, Yanagi was sharp and could figure out their clues pretty easily. He watched as Yanagi arrived and looked around the card shop until he looked inside an unmarked one with a simple heart on it and found the third slip of paper. Yanagi tried to pay for the card, but as agreed, the shopgirl smiled and said it was already paid for. Yanagi tried to get more information, but she smiled and refused, just as Niou had instructed. He sent Kirihara another text, "He's confused, but is on his way. Good luck."

Niou knew that Kirihara would be waiting at Yanagi's favorite spot in the library, at the back behind rows of dusty classics in their original languages, when Yanagi arrived. He also knew that Yanagi would have figured out the messages meant that Kirihara, who loved video games, liked Yanagi, who liked those old, unread books. Somewhere inside, he also knew that Yanagi would reject Kirihara, which was confirmed an hour later when Yanagi sent him a text saying, "Why did you help him?"

"Move it up just a little, Jackal." Yanagi stood on ground, looking at the sign Jackal and Niou were putting up over the doorway.

"How's that?" Jackal pushed it up just a little. Yanagi gave them the OK, and the two of them taped the corners of the sign to the wall. Niou hopped off the chair to take a look. It was kind of corny - the sign said "Welcome Home, Yukimura!" in bright red letters - but it was the thought that counted. He meandered over to the dinner table, where Yagyuu was setting up the food and drinks, lightly bumping Yagyuu's shoulder in lieu of a greeting.

"How much longer until they arrive?" Niou stole a chip from one of the bowls Yagyuu had already laid out. He picked up the empty bags from the snacks and walked over to the trash can.

"About ten minutes. Are all the decorations up?" Yagyuu poured a bag of trail mix into a bowl and set it next to a bowl of fresh strawberries. Niou looked back into the living room and nodded. They had spent the past hour setting up a surprise party in the Yukimura household. Sanada had gone with Yukimura's family to pick him up, and had texted them with an ETA once they'd left the hospital. It looked pretty nice, actually. The sign hung over the entrance to the kitchen and the rest of the room had balloons and crepe paper draped around the walls.

"Here's the cake!" Marui bounced in the door, holding up a nicely wrapped box. They all gathered around the table as Marui carefully removed the cake from the box and set it on a decorative plate. "Everything's ready now, right?" Marui looked wistfully at the cake, causing Jackal to grab onto his wrist and pull him towards the living room, away from the cake.

"Yup. Now we just hide and wait for Yukimura to come in the front door." Niou chose a spot between the entertainment unit and the living room entrance from the front hallway.

"They just turned onto the street!" Kirihara, who had been keeping watch at an upstairs window, bounded down the stairs and into the living room. He appeared to have rebounded from Yanagi's rejection pretty quickly, and had been able to joke around and plan the party with them without any awkwardness showing through. Niou only wished it were that easy for Yanagi and himself, even if it were just pretend.

"Hide!"

Kirihara dove behind the coffee table as the sounds of a car pulling into the driveway reached their ears. The door opened, and Yukimura's soft voice floated in. "Really, Genichirou, I can walk by myself. I'm not going to collapse again."

"I know, I've just kept getting flashbacks and it worries me, you know." Sanada's voice was gentler than anything Niou had ever heard from him. He raised an eyebrow at Marui while flashing a silent countdown with his fingers. Everyone jumped out simultaneously just as someone turned on the living room lights from the hallway. "Surprise! Welcome home, Yukimura!"

Yukimura didn't show any signs of surprise other than his eyes widening ever so slightly. "Aren't you guys supposed to be at practice right now?"

"We made it up on Sunday. And Kirihara owes me five hundred yen." Niou held out his hand and Kirihara grumbled, forfeiting the stated amount. "I told him Yukimura's first words to us would be about why we're not at practice."

"Akaya, don't you know by now that it's a bad idea to bet against Niou?" Yukimura sat down on a couch, voice at once teasing and chastising. His parents and sister left the room to bring Yukimura's suitcase back to his room and do their own stuff - they would have their own family celebration later. Right now, Yukimura's time was promised to his team, who had worried just as much ever since they first saw him collapse and were just as relieved at his recovery.

"Yes, yes." Kirihara looked away, and the rest of the team laughed.

Sanada, who by now had poured two cups of orange juice, handed one to Yukimura and sat next to him, sipping from the other. "You guys did a good job."

"You knew about this?" Yukimura looked at Sanada accusingly, and Sanada held up his hands.

"Everyone knew about it, captain." Marui eyed the table in the kitchen, and then looked back at Yukimura. "We should go into the kitchen; we got you cake and everything."

Yukimura chuckled lightly. "OK, but Marui, aren't you not allowed to eat cake except before matches?" They all laughed at Marui's dismayed expression.

"Why don't we let this one time slide? It is a special occasion, after all." Again, Sanada caused eyebrows to rise when he granted Marui a reprieve from his otherwise strictly-enforced diet. "You have to run an extra fifteen laps tomorrow, though." Marui happily agreed, and they went to begin the celebration of Yukimura's recovery.

"Seiichi! What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to stay in bed for another week still?" Apparently, even Yanagi didn't know of Yukimura's plans to return to practice the very next day as Yukimura walked into the clubroom, already dressed in his uniform.

"Relax, Renji. I'm just going to watch you guys practice; I won't be playing again for awhile yet." Yukimura moved to his locker to grab his jacket. While his movements were still as graceful as they'd been a year ago, they weren't as powerful as Niou remembered. He watched as Yukimura put his hair up and pulled on his headband before draping the jacket around his shoulders. It almost looked as though Yukimura had never left them, though the way the jacket hung just a little loose on his shoulders and his shorts fell a little lower on his hips gave away the fact that Yukimura had lost a lot of weight during his illness.

Nonetheless, Yukimura's mere presence made practice seem just that much more important. Niou was more careful with his follow through. Yagyuu hit his lasers with less flair and more power. Marui concentrated so intently on his precision that he didn't blow a single bubble. Even Sanada focused more on his own practice and less on other people's. Yet, Yukimura still yelled at them. "Everyone, your form is terrible!" He continued on to yell at each one of them, finishing with, "How did you ever win Kantou like this?"

Niou winced. Certainly, Yukimura's presence made them feel like a complete team again, and while his criticisms were mostly true, he didn't need to be so harsh. Yukimura used to be terse with them at practice, but he didn't remember the words ever having been said with as much bite behind them. "It's good to have you back, too, Yukimura-buchou!"

Yukimura leaned back against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, you guys. It's just so frustrating, watching all of you practicing and not being able to play along with you. I want to play in Nationals, too, with you guys."

"It's OK, Yukimura-buchou. We held our own at Kantou, we'll be OK at Nationals, also." Kirihara delivered a service ace against a third year.

"You just concentrate on getting better - the less we worry about you, the better our form will be." Niou hit his version of Yagyuu's laser, which Yagyuu easily returned.

"Seichii, I have a plan I want to discuss with you, actually." Yanagi finished his match against Marui and walked over to Yukimura. The rest of them returned to their matches, each putting everything he had into their games.

* * *

Seriously, this fic is refusing to end. It also sucks that we don't know the lineup for Nationals finals yet. . I need the lineup, at the very least. . This part was even harder than 12. . Not a good sign...


	14. 064 Fall

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

One day, Atobe showed up at the Rikkai courts and challenged Sanada to a match. Niou grabbed Yagyuu's serve instead of returning it, looking over to where Atobe and Sanada stood on opposite sides of the court next to his. "This looks interesting." 

Yagyuu joined him at the net, watching as Sanada sent a service ace right past Atobe's head. "Sanada's just going to destroy him. It's not worth watching." Indeed, when Niou and Yagyuu had finished their game, Sanada was winning three games to zero using only his zan shot. It was just like the last time Sanada destroyed Atobe. Niou moved to set up the ball machines so that he and Yagyuu could practice their formations just as Sanada won another game without letting Atobe score a single point.

Right when Niou got into position in front of Yagyuu, a murmur rose from the crowd of non-Regulars watching the Sanada-Atobe match. "It seems like something interesting is happening." Yagyuu turned off the machine and walked over to the fence separating their courts.

"Sounds like Atobe got a point." Niou joined him, resting an elbow on Yagyuu's shoulder and leaning against him, and looked carefully at Sanada and Atobe's individual stances. As Atobe prepared to serve again, Yukimura stepped in and lowered the net. In what was doubtlessly most polite terms and threatening voice he could muster, Yukimura indicated that Atobe ought to leave and let Rikkai return to their regular practices. Sanada followed Yukimura, most likely protesting the unconventional ending of the match. Niou looked at Yagyuu, raising an eyebrow. "I wonder what happened."

"Why are you all standing around? Twenty laps, all of you!" Sanada's voice bellowed out over the courts, and Niou groaned. He did get a chance to talk to Jackal during their laps though, who told him that Atobe had played some "Ice World" shot, and that Yukimura stopped them because he would supposedly have lost.

"That's interesting." Niou realized that the loss at Kantou had been devastating for Hyoutei - Atobe in particular - and that all the other teams would come back twice as strong to challenge them at Nationals. His eyes glinted and he ran on ahead of Jackal to finish his laps and return to practice. If they wanted to challenge Rikkai, he would give them something to challenge.

They went to watch the first rounds at Nationals, even though they had a bye and would go straight through to the second round. They wandered around, checking out various matches that seemed interesting at the time. It was only in part to check out the competition, since the real competition were the other schools with byes first round. Yanagi disappeared briefly, and Niou saw him talking with the tall kid with glasses from Seigaku - Inui Sadaharu, the person who'd beaten Yanagi at Kantou. He didn't ask any questions when Yanagi returned, though.

Their real motive to walk around the tournament was to make a statement about their presence at the tournament. Heads turned when they saw a flash of beige, knowing that that was the color of the returning champions looking for a three-peat victory. They heard murmuring around them wherever they walked and knew it was other teams pointing them out to their first-years and whispering to each other about how "there's Rikkai, two-time National champions," "wow they look strong," "I hope I don't have to face that one there." Niou grinned at a group of scared-looking first years, and one of the shrimps with shaking knees whimpered and fell down.

"Masaharu, be nice." Yagyuu didn't look at him as he spoke, opting to keep holding his head high and walking straight forward. Yanagi didn't say a word.

They stopped for a bit at the Hyoutei match, and Sanada frowned. Atobe wasn't using his "ice globe" shot or whatever it was that Yukimura thought would decimate Sanada. Niou wanted to see it - he wanted to see what a shot that Sanada couldn't return looked like - but Hyoutei's opponents were too weak and Atobe's insight was enough to destroy them.

The next week, they won round two easily, without losing a single game. Quickly, they went to watch the Hyoutei-Shishigaku game. Shishigaku was strong enough to have gotten to semifinals the previous years and just might force Atobe to use his "Ice World" - Jackal corrected Niou for an entire week until he remembered what it was called. Atobe still didn't use it though. "Does this move even exist?" he grumbled on the bus ride home.

"Hyoutei's playing Seigaku next week. Now that Tezuka's back, and I hear he's able to use Muga no Kyouchi again, Atobe will probably have to use his move." The amount of information Yanagi stored in his head was simply amazing. Niou had noticed that Inui used notebooks, but he'd never seen Yanagi write down a single bit of data.

The next day, when Niou ran into the clubroom just barely on time, the first thing he noticed was that Yukimura was holding a tennis racket. "Yukimura, do you plan on playing today?"

"I've been doing racket swings everyday since the stitches were removed. I'm ready for some light rallying today." Yukimura was scary. Niou had read up on Guillain-Barre syndrome after Yukimura had been diagnosed and knew that it normally took at least a few months to recover. Yukimura was ready to rally again in under a month?

"Seiichi's recovery rate has been phenomenal. He cannot play a full game yet, or play with full strength, but a rally isn't out of the question anymore." Yanagi held his racket and a basket of balls. "Shall we go warm up, Seiichi?" Niou watched two of the three demons leave the room. Rikkai was an interesting team to be on. Yukimura wasn't human, Niou was certain of it. Maybe the mothership would come and retreive him after he won Nationals three times in a row. That would be cool. Niou chuckled at his overactive imagination.

"What's so funny, Masaharu?"

"Nothing. Can you check the schedule for me? I think I'm playing the demon spawn today." Niou quickly tied his shoes and pulled his racket out of his bag as Yagyuu looked at the schedule pinned next to the door.

"Yes, you are, and I'm playing Marui."

"OK. We should get Jackal and Marui to do a practice doubles match after that."

Kirihara rushed into the room, already changed into his tennis uniform.

"Decide to save time this morning, Kirihara?" Yagyuu joked lightly, ruffling the shorter boy's hair as he pulled out his racket and stuffed his bag in his locker in record speed.

"Shut up, Yagyuu-senpai. Niou-senpai, I'll be waiting for you on the courts." Kirihara turned and left the room, ready in five seconds flat.

"What's eating him?"

Yagyuu shrugged. "You're the one that has to play him, not me. Good luck, by the way." Niou groaned. He was not looking forward to playing an angry Kirihara.

"Niou! Are you OK?" Jackal's voice cut across the courts, and all the other games stopped as everyone ran to stop Kirihara.

"Akaya! Cool it, this instant!" Yukimura's movements were slow, but his voice had clearly not suffered from his illness. Sanada was the first to reach the court and physically restrained Kirihara from continuing to serve.

"Niou, what happened?" Sanada struggled with the red-eyed demon in his arms, though it was clear that Kirihara would never be able to overpower and break free from the prison that was Sanada.

"I have no idea; we were playing a match and he just suddenly went crazy!" Niou stood, wiping at a cut on his lip and scowling at the blood he found on his hand. Yagyuu was by his side momentarily, helping him to the bench and handing him a bottle of water. "Thanks, Hiro." Yanagi silently handed the first-aid kit he'd grabbed to Yagyuu, who started tending to Niou's injuries. Normally, injuries were attended to by Yanagi, but Niou appreciated Yagyuu's gentle touch over Yanagi's methodical ministrations.

"Did you say anything to upset him?" Jackal, who usually watched over Kirihara's matches to intervene immediately if Kirihara went into bloodshot mode, was tending to Kirihara, calming him back into a normal state.

"I think I know what this is about." Yanagi walked over to Kirihara, who by now had returned to normal and shaken himself free from Sanada's grip. "Am I right, Akaya?" Kirihara nodded. "I'll talk to him. Seiichi, do you mind leaving this to me?"

"Only if you tell me about it later." Yukimura was shining a light into Niou's eyes, checking to make sure that he didn't get a concussion from the hit to his head. Yanagi nodded and led Kirihara away from the courts towards some shady trees. "Niou, you should probably go home and rest for the day."

"No, I'm OK. It was just two hits." Niou swatted away Yagyuu's hands, which were checking if the bandages were tight enough. The bleeding had stopped, and his heart rate was starting to slow back down. "I just need to sit a minute and I can do some weight training."

"Niou. Go home. Just for today; you can make it up tomorrow. Don't aggravate those fresh cuts - we need you this weekend." Yukimura's voice allowed for no arguing. Niou grumbled, picking up his stuff and heading back to the clubroom.

* * *

Oh look, another unplanned plot twist. Sorry for the break; finished my thesis & celebrated by sleeping like a log. I liked this part though. Come on Konomi, Nationals lineup, please? puppy dog eyes.  
By the way? I'm never going to finish FF100. I thought I'd gone through a lot, but no. 


	15. 070 Storm

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"Kirihara refused to talk to the rest of us. Yanagi and Yukimura also decided not to say anything." Yagyuu brushed a strand of hair away from Niou's face. He was sitting on the chair in Niou's room. Niou lay on his bed, holding a bag of ice wrapped in a towel against his lip. The bleeding had stopped, but it still ached when not numbed by the ice.

"The twisted punk. I'm going to get him for that. Did Yukimura at least assign him laps?" Niou draped his other arm over his eyes. He had a minor headache from the hit to the side of his head, but was certain it'd go away if he just took a nap.

"Yea, fifty every day for a week. He also scolded Kirihara in front of everyone, about disrespecting senpai and hurting other club members." Yagyuu moved to sit on Niou's bed. "Masaharu, can you remember saying anything that might have set him off?"

"No; we barely talked at all. He was being all pissy and stuff, so we didn't even talk about the game." Niou could feel Yagyuu bending down over him and didn't resist when Yagyuu pushed his hands away and pressed a kiss to his lips. His lip stung, but it didn't matter, not when Yagyuu was just barely pressing his tongue inside his mouth.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Yagyuu muttered when they broke apart, touching their foreheads together. "When I saw you lying on the ground. For once, it felt like I couldn't run fast enough."

Niou opened his eyes and looked straight into Yagyuu's warm, worried gaze over his glasses. He couldn't focus since Yagyuu was too close, and let his eyes fall shut again to keep from getting dizzy. "I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around Yagyuu's neck, bag of ice forgotten by his pillow.

"Don't be. Just never be in that position again." Yagyuu pulled Niou to a sitting position and hugged him, hard.

"I'm OK. You don't have to worry so much; it's just a cut."

"I know, but it just reminded me so much of Yukimura last year." Yagyuu's arms loosened and he helped Niou lie back down slowly. Niou imagined how he must've looked to the rest of them, and realized suddenly why Yagyuu had been so freaked out. When Yukimura collapsed, they had all been so scared. That first time they sat in the waiting room at the hospital was one of the worst experiences of his life, and he sincerely hoped to never go through it again.

"I'm sorry. Next time, I won't fall." Niou grinned, ignoring how the stretch stung his lip, and Yagyuu couldn't help but smile back at him.

"I'm sorry, Niou-senpai. It won't ever happen again." Kirihara bowed.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Just go do your laps." Aside from a fat lip and a lump mostly hidden by his hair, Niou looked none the worse for wear. When Kirihara headed off to his laps, Niou turned to Yukimura and Yanagi. "So, what happened?"

"You don't want to know. It doesn't concern you."

"What do you mean it doesn't concern me? I think I deserve to know why he attacked me." The lump on his head was starting to throb lightly. He took a deep breath to calm down.

"That's Yukimura's way of telling you he doesn't think you should know." Marui spoke the very words Niou was thinking.

"Yanagi." Niou stared at Yanagi unflinchingly. "Does this have anything to do with you?" Yanagi exchanged a glance with Yukimura before nodding once. Niou growled, frustrated. "This kind of distrust isn't good for the team, you know. We can't win Nationals if the rest of us think that Kirihara's a bomb waiting for a trigger."

Yanagi exchanged another series of glances with Yukimura. Niou had no idea how they conversed like that - he knew Yagyuu pretty well and he still had to use words with Yagyuu. "He thinks it's unfair that you get both Yanagi and Yagyuu." As always, Yukimura's explanation was blunt and concise.

"Oh." Niou thought back to when he had received the text message from Yanagi. He had just assumed that Yanagi turned him down out of lack of interest. Was it possible that Yanagi turned down Kirihara because of something else? He shook his head. It didn't matter anymore - he was with Yagyuu now, even if Yukimura did use the present tense.

That weekend, after they utterly destroyed Kabuto in straight sets, they checked the scoreboards and noted that Nagoya Seitoku and Shitenhouji had also swept their matches. Only the Hyoutei-Seigaku match was still undecided, so they headed in the direction of the loud cheers. Seigaku's first year genius had just finished winning singles two - Niou sneaked a peak at Yanagi's response to having missed Inui's match. Yanagi didn't show any outward reaction though. The next match was Shishido-Ohtori versus Kikumaru-Oishi.

"Finally - second and third doubles one teams battle it out." Niou propped an elbow on Yagyuu's shoulder and leaned on it. "Let's see if the Golden Pair can keep their spot."

"Second and third? Aren't you forgetting Shitenhouji and Nagoya Seitoku?" Yagyuu placed an arm around Niou's waist. While Niou was fine with ignoring the concept of personal space, he wasn't very big on the whole pubic display of affection bit. He pulled away slightly and Yagyuu immediately got the hint, letting his errant arm drop back to his side before fixing his glasses and folding his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, Shitenhouji, perhaps. Definitely not Nagoya Seitoku though." As they watched, the two teams played themselves into a tiebreak, eventually won by Hyoutei. "Huh. I wonder how they ever got considered golden. We beat them, Hyoutei beat them, and I heard they lost some match in the prefecturals, too."

"Whatever Masaharu. As long as we're platinum, it really doesn't matter, right?" Yagyuu smiled down at him, acknowledging the moniker of platinum pair for the first time. Niou learned the meaning of the phrase "warm and fuzzy feeling" - it was just this. Yagyuu smiling at him with the sun warming their skin, both of them knowing that they wouldn't lose when together.

Singles one was going to be interesting. Atobe had a new move that could supposedly beat Sanada, and Tezuka was fully healed. Atobe went through his pre-match antics again, causing Sanada to roll his eyes and Yukimura to smile. "Atobe will never change, will he." The rematch was powerful from the start, both players jumping immediately to full power, neither willing to back an inch.

Several minutes later, Niou pointed out, "Yukimura, that Ice World thing isn't all that strong..." Yukimura didn't reply, eyes glued to the match, lips pressed tightly together.

A long heartbeat after that, Kirihara breathed. "Wow."

When the match was over, Niou's lips felt chapped. He took a drink of water. "Huh. Where did Tezuka learn how to do that?" No one answered him.

Later that evening, Yukimura called Niou and Yagyuu while they were having a quiet dinner, interrupting their silent musings over the Atobe-Tezuka match. "Come to the courts. We need to talk." When they arrived, all the Regulars except Kirihara were already there. "You all saw Tezuka today. Seigaku will doubtlessly make it past Shitenhouji into the finals - even Chitose can't stop Tezuka now. We need to be prepared for them."

Yanagi stepped in. "We need Akaya to awaken before the finals. His demon mode could go farther; he just hasn't been pushed to the degree where he needs to yet. It's too risky to do it against Seigaku, but the semifinals are a distinct possibility. Nagoya Seitoku is just about the right strength. We thought about putting him in singles two and throwing the first two matches. Akaya will end up winning six-four, and we'll be able to clean up doubles and singles one pretty easily after that."

"What lineup are you proposing then?" Marui looked concerned. Niou looked around - everyone's face held a similar concern, and he was certain his own did as well. Tezuka was strong, stronger than Sanada, for sure. If Yukimura hadn't been taken out for the entire season, he probably could beat Tezuka, but as it was, it'd take a miracle for Yukimura to be that recovered by the finals.

"Yagyuu in singles three, Jackal-Marui in doubles two, Akaya in singles two, Niou and myself in doubles one, and Genichirou in singles one."

"Wait, Yanagi, why am I in singles?" Generally, people didn't complain about being put in singles. Yagyuu, apparently, did. Niou was also surprised - why would Yanagi put himself with Niou? It would've made sense back when Niou couldn't even look at Yagyuu, but that wasn't the case anymore. If anything, his and Yagyuu's combination had only gotten stronger.

"You and Niou play with your opponents too much. We agreed that we need to simply destroy them in the last two matches to prove that the first two losses were in fact planned and to not show Seigaku too much."

"We could do that too," Niou jumped in. "I mean, when we get serious, Hiro and I are pretty unstoppable."

"We know this. They do not. Save it for the finals." For the first time that day, Sanada spoke. He'd been less involved in line-ups and practice since Yukimura's return, and had been more focused on Yukimura's health and his own practice instead. "We'll need your entire strength there." Niou wondered if Sanada was worried about having to play Tezuka. It shouldn't matter, because Tezuka played singles one and really, he was the only player from Seigaku that held any threat at all.

"Fine, fine. As long as Yagyuu and I play together in the finals." He wasn't so sure about the playing with Yanagi bit. It was going to be awkward, but for the sake of the team, he could handle it. He _would_ handle it.

"Of course, Niou. You two will be the top doubles team at Nationals." Yanagi nodded at him, and it was settled.

* * *

At some point, this switched from just a romance story to my rewriting Nationals... my opinion on how the Nationals should've gone can be found on FET forums - I'm using some of those lineups instead, just because I can. .>

Oh well. We'll return to the drama soon. I mean, Niou-Yanagi doubles? That's just asking for it.


	16. 025 Strangers

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"I don't like it." The air was still sticky and humid, even though the sun had set an hour ago. Yagyuu's statement didn't need much of an explanation - Niou felt the same.

"Me neither, but when the three of them decide on something, what can we do?" Niou stuck his hands in his pockets, letting his shoulders curve forward while he walked.

"I just don't buy their reasoning. Our match is scheduled to start before Seigaku's. There's no way they'll finish in time to watch doubles one." Yagyuu kicked at a pebble. Niou wanted to laugh. Yagyuu, frustrated enough to kick a pebble? That certainly wasn't an everyday occurrence. He understood how Yagyuu felt, though. "Yanagi's up to something." When the Master had a plan in mind, no one could avoid being his puppet. Even though Niou could usually read his opponents ten, twenty moves ahead, he never could read into any of Yanagi's plans.

"Isn't he always?" Niou followed Yagyuu up the driveway to his house. They were going to do some homework. Yagyuu didn't allow him a single day's break from doing work, claiming that regularity was the key to understanding and success. He sounded kind of like Sanada when he said things like that, all disciplined and whatnot. It was kind of hot, but Niou didn't tell Yagyuu that - not yet, anyway.

Two hours later, Niou uncrossed his legs and lay back flat on the floor, stretching his stiff and slightly sore limbs. "No more," he whined, curling up onto his side and wrapping his arms around his head. "Tired. Early practice tomorrow."

"Stay over."

"What?" Niou blinked, looking up only to find Yagyuu standing in front of him.

"I'm asking you to spend the night."

Niou rolled onto his back, silently looking up at Yagyuu for a heartbeat, two. "OK."

Aside from pulling out the guest futon for Niou, Yagyuu's parents pretty much left the two of them alone. To their knowledge, it wasn't anything unusual. Niou had stayed over before, when they gotten too into their discussions of tennis and lost track of time. Yagyuu's parents didn't need to know that Niou didn't crawl into the guest futon until dawn, opting instead to spend the night entangled in Yagyuu's arms.

In the morning, as they were changing into their uniforms before leaving for practice, Niou saw an official looking folder on Yagyuu's desk. "What's this, Hiro?"

"Huh? Nothing, that's nothing." Yagyuu's voice sounded weird. Niou picked it up and studied the cover a little more, wishing he paid more attention in English class. "London... School of... Ec..."

"Economics. London School of Economics." The foreign words fell smoothly from Yagyuu's lips as he fixed his glasses. Niou's mouth felt dry. He swallowed and opened up the folder. Yagyuu's neat handwriting stared back at him from the forms inside.

"Are you applying?" Niou stared at the forms, looking at all the perfect scores Yagyuu had filled in for the standard exams. He didn't even know Yagyuu had taken those - when did he have the time to study? It felt almost as though he didn't know the Yagyuu on these papers, as though the application was for another Yagyuu Hiroshi.

"Yes." Yagyuu didn't even pause before answering. It kind of hurt. Niou flipped through the rest of the application before speaking again. It was mostly filled out and ready for submission - it looked like Yagyuu had already planned through the whole thing.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"When it came up."

"In other words, never." Niou closed the folder, setting it back down on the desk.

"I probably won't get in anyway; it's very difficult to get in as an international student, and Japan's a very competitive nation." Yagyuu's words sounded practiced, as though he'd been saying them to himself. It didn't sound like he believed them, though.

"What if you do?"

Yagyuu didn't respond for several minutes. They both knew Niou's questions was valid - Yagyuu's statistics were impressive no matter how you looked at it. Niou's weren't even close - he doubted even Yanagi's numbers were as high as the ones on Yagyuu's application form.

"Forget it. We should go before we're late. We'll talk after practice."

That day, Niou and Yanagi tried playing a practice match against Sanada and Yagyuu, with Yukimura, Jackal, and Marui all looking on. "Six-games-all! Tiebreak!" The referee was a second-year who was far too afraid of calling any of the outs and really just relied on Yukimura's signals to actually make calls.

Niou wiped some sweat away from the nape of his neck. He hated to admit it, but Yanagi was a better player than Yagyuu or himself. He and Yagyuu never could tie with the Sanada-Yanagi pair; switching the pairings was kind of like a balancing of powers. That was why Yanagi, Sanada and Yukimura had been Regulars since summer of their first year, but he and Yagyuu had only gained their spots at the end of their second year - their levels were too different.

That was also why he and Yagyuu first started playing doubles, actually. They used to specialize in singles as well. When it became obvious that singles would be locked up for the next three years though, Niou had propositioned to Yagyuu that they form a doubles team. The rest is, as they say, history. He didn't want to think of that partnership ending - certainly not as soon as the end of Nationals. Suddenly, the finals were close, too close. He wanted more games before the finals. _That_ was why Yagyuu was more upset by having to play singles in the semifinals than Niou had been. Niou bent, staring across the net at Yagyuu, who was preparing to serve.

"Stop." Yukimura walked onto the court, stopping Yagyuu just as he tossed the ball in the air. "I've seen enough - this is definitely the pairing we're going with in the semifinals. Niou, Yagyuu, help Jackal and Marui practice returns. Renji, Genichirou, I want to speak with you."

Niou grabbed his water bottle and took a quick gulp, his eyes never leaving the trio as they stood off to the side, no doubt discussing something about lineups. "Helping" Jackal and Marui practice meant feeding them balls, sometimes several at once, and calling out what shots they should be returned with. "That corner." Niou pointed at a spot to his left before hitting three balls in quick secession at Jackal. "Cross, cross, smash." Jackal performed the demanded shots with perfect accuracy.

By the time Yukimura returned, Sanada and Yanagi flanking him like a guard, Niou had already gone through his basket of about a hundred balls. Jackal hadn't missed a single shot - he was in top form. Nationals had better watch out; Rikkai was coming with all its power. As they watched, Yanagi climbed into one of the referee chairs. Yukimura and Sanada each picked up their rackets.

"Is this going to be an actual match?" Jackal spoke the very words Niou was wondering. Yukimura had rallied a couple times, but if Yanagi was reffing, it was probably going to be an actual game. Yukimura hadn't played a full set in a long time, and his first opponent was going to be Sanada?

There was one thought on everyone's mind as the game began. "Is Yukimura recovered enough for that?"

Fifteen minutes later, there was not a doubt left in any of their minds. "Shit." Niou's mind was still reeling from the match they'd just seen and couldn't think of anything more eloquent to say. He remembered learning something about how absence made the heart grow fonder because as the memory forgets, the mind replaces with idealizations. Either that was false, or Yukimura had improved more than Niou could imagine.

"Ditto." Marui, apparently, was in much the same speechless state.

"Fukubuchou got _owned_."

Out of the corner of his eye, Niou caught Kirihara licking his lips, his eyes shining with a flame that hadn't been there since the previous year, when he'd lain, defeated, on the courts in front of a strong and fully healthy Yukimura.

"Who told you guys to stop practicing?" Yukimura didn't even sound winded.

"Yes, Yukimura-buchou!" If it were possible, the already intense training became even more intense. Far from letting the relax, Yukimura's return only fired up the will in all of them to be even stronger as a team. They would win Nationals three years running. They would, because they were Rikkai.

He just didn't want to think of it as the last time they'd win as Rikkai.

* * *

>. I like sending Yagyuu out of Japan. This actually wasn't supposed to come up until later in the fic, but I needed it here for the pacing. Meh.  



	17. 074 Dark

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

That night, Niou lay in bed, wondering how things would have been different had he stayed with Yanagi. After practice that day, he and Yagyuu had gone to the tree by the shrine to talk. They'd sat facing each other, and Yagyuu had told him he was applying to six international colleges - three in England and three in the United States - to improve his English and learn more of the world.

Yagyuu's words seemed practiced, like words he'd told his parents or interviewers or something, not like words he'd say to a friend, much less a boyfriend. Niou didn't get it. Yagyuu was the one who'd chased after him when he had given up. How could he do that when he knew he was going so far away? It was unfair, and Yagyuu never acted so irrationally. It wasn't like it was even possible for Niou to also study abroad - Niou would be lucky to test into any of the top colleges in Japan, much less get into one of the world's top colleges.

Niou turned over and stared out his window. There were no stars in the sky - there were too many lights in the city. He's always had to go outside the city to see any stars. He stared at his cell phone in the dark for awhile, wondering about the solid plastic casing concealing so much technology, before sitting up, grabbing the phone and calling Yanagi. He scooted back on his bed so that his back rested against the wall just as Yanagi picked up on the second ring.

"What do you need, Niou? I'm busy." There was a mildly annoyed tone in Yanagi's voice and a clacking of keys that indicated he hadn't stopped typing on his computer. Yanagi was probably simulating some shot or something - he did that on occasion before showing the move to whomever he was developing it for. He really needed to sleep more though - the bags under his eyes had always been too deep for a boy their age, and had only been getting darker recently.

"Did you know?" He stared at the shadows in his room, slightly illuminated by the brightness of the streetlight outside his window, as he waited for Yanagi to understand his question. He didn't feel like explaining himself further - he didn't need to. Yanagi knew what he meant.

The keys slowed, then stopped. There was a click as Yanagi disconnected his headset and put his phone to his ear, giving Niou his mostly undivided attention. "He told you? I didn't think he'd tell you until after he got in and decided to go to one of them."

"So you knew."

"Yes; I helped him look over his personal statements."

Niou paused, wondering why Yanagi hadn't told him anything. More appropriately, he wondered how Yagyuu and Yanagi had managed to hide it so well from him for so long, and why Yanagi helped Yagyuu when there was so much discord between them. "What are his chances?"

"I don't know Yagyuu's exact scores in the necessary standardized exams, but I think he's likely to get into at least one of them." Yanagi sounded, well, glad. It was hard to tell - Yanagi was hard to read in person and therefore all but impossible to read on the phone - but Niou wouldn't be surprised if Yanagi were in fact glad. He was too tired for mind games though.

"Oh. Thanks."

"Was that all?"

"Yea, I'll see you tomorrow." Niou moved to turn off his cell phone when Yanagi stopped him.

"Wait, Niou. I have a question, too." There. Now, Yanagi's voice held no hint of gladness whatsoever - it was all serious and businesslike and so completely Yanagi.

"What?" Niou grabbed his pillow to his stomach and shifted his phone to his left ear. He didn't really feel like answering any questions right now; he had too many of his own he wanted to sort through first.

"That ploy Akaya pulled had your name written all over it. Why did you help him?" It was the same question Yanagi had asked before. Niou had never replied to that message, and didn't want to answer it now. He offered to help Kirihara because he knew how the younger boy felt. He also could see that even though Yanagi appeared to be fine, he was still hurting, and had hoped that maybe Kirihara could help. He wasn't about to say that to Yanagi though.

"He asked."

"He wouldn't. You must have volunteered." Unfortunately, Yanagi had more data on Kirihara than Niou did.

"So what? I wanted to help a friend. The kid has a crush and he doesn't know how to deal. He got all pissy at me because I dated you, remember?" He knew he shouldn't have said those words. It was an off-limit topic, just because it made for awkwardness. Still, it was something he wanted to know more about, and now seemed as good a time as any in which to ask Yanagi about what Yukimura had meant at practice the other day.

"I see." Yanagi breathed into the receiver, causing a loud white noise to be transmitted. He immediately readjusted his phone. "If that's all then, Niou, good night."

"One more thing, actually. The other day, when Yukimura said I have both you and Yagyuu - what was that about?" He'd been meaning to ask about it, but it had never seemed like a proper time. The line between them right now was so full of tension already that it probably didn't matter if he added one more awkward question to it.

"Just that. You and I dated. Akaya was jealous because I turned him down." Yanagi was lying through his teeth. Kirihara would have blown up at Niou back when he and Yanagi first started dating if that were true - he would not have contained it until after the fact. Niou told Yanagi as much, and Yanagi sighed. "Do we really have to get into this now?"

Niou thought for a moment, but his mind was pretty made up. "Yes."

"Niou, I- damnit, I still like you, OK? Hell, I..." There'd been a break as Yanagi decided what to say, and then his voice trailed off entirely, words apparently escaping the usually eloquent boy. Niou held his breath, heart pounding, waiting to hear what Yanagi had to say. "I think I might love you." Niou's eyes widened, pillow falling to his side as his grip on it loosened. "I was going to tell you, after winning Kantou, but..."

But Niou had kissed Yagyuu and Yanagi had lost his match because of it and everything that wasn't supposed to happen happened. Niou closed his eyes, tilting his head back to rest against the wall. Breathing was suddenly a chore, something he needed to remind himself to do. He didn't know why Yanagi's words affected him so much - he was in love with Yagyuu, even if he'd never specifically said those words to Yagyuu. Yagyuu had spoken them to him many times though, and didn't mind Niou's silence on the matter. Perhaps this was why Yanagi was helping Yagyuu get into a foreign college - to get him out of the way. He probably told Kirihara as much also, which got Kirihara all riled up. He took a deep breath of cool, fresh air as everything suddenly clicked. "Oh."

"Are we done now?" It sounded like a double entendre when he phrased it like that. Knowing Yanagi, it was perfectly possible that he wholly intended for it to come across that way. The guy sure had a way of hiding behind a mask.

"I suppose. I'll see you tomorrow at practice?"

"Yea, we should play a match against each other."

"OK. Good night, then."

"Good night, Niou."

Niou found himself again staring at his phone. There was too much information circling around in his mind. He wanted Yagyuu, but at the same time, he knew that being with Yagyuu right then would only lead him to be even more confused. Sighing, he flopped down on his bed, setting his cell phone on the nightstand before trying to fall asleep.

* * *


	18. 002 Middles

Title: Fictional Truth  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.

* * *

"Masaharu, get up you lazy bum. Yagyuu-kun's here for you."

Niou groaned and turned over. His sister's voice was too shrill to listen to in the morning. A second later, her words registered in his sleep-fogged brain and he shot up, glancing at his clock as he wondered why Yagyuu was at his house over an hour before practice was supposed to start. Quickly changing, he yanked his door open to find Yagyuu on the other side. "Hiro? What're you doing here?" He ran a hand through his sleep-mussed hair, oddly conscious of his disheveled appearance.

"I want to talk to you." Yagyuu stepped aside slightly to let Niou slip past him towards the bathroom. "Shall I wait for you downstairs?"

"No, the family will have way too many questions. Just... chill a sec." Niou closed the door behind him and quickly addressed the urgent matter of relieving his bladder. After washing his hands, he opened the door and motioned Yagyuu over. "What did you want to talk about this early?" He grabbed his toothbrush, squeezed some of the green and white paste his sister liked and started brushing his teeth.

"This whole college thing. I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you. I'm still going to apply, just to see if I can get in. But even if I do, I don't have to go, you know." Yagyuu leaned against the doorframe, a hand stretched out as though to touch Niou, except he shifted his shoulders and fixed his glasses instead.

Niou paused to spit. He put his toothbrush back in his mouth without a hitch, showing no signs of having heard what Yagyuu said. A silent minute later, he turned on the tap and rinsed the foamy, minty toothpaste away, setting his toothbrush back in the holder and wiping his mouth dry on the back of his hand. He turned and looked at Yagyuu for the first time since the conversation started. "That's not fair, Hiroshi. I don't want to be the one who prevented you from going to one of the best colleges in the world."

"It's not important." Yagyuu stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Niou stepped back against the sink to give him room, but apparently Yagyuu wasn't interested in space. He stepped forward, positioning his legs between Niou's parted ones and pulled off his glasses, bracing that hand against the sink Niou was now leaning back against. Niou was transfixed by Yagyuu's eyes - they were downright _dangerous_ - as Yagyuu gently cupped the back of Niou's head with his other hand. Niou closed his eyes when Yagyuu's thumb stroked his hairline behind his ear, and returned Yagyuu's kiss eagerly when the other boy leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Yagyuu whispered into his mouth, "You're more important," before licking around Niou's lips and pressing his tongue into Niou's mouth.

Niou moaned as Yagyuu's hand caressed his neck, sending shivers down his spine. An alarm sounded faintly in his mind, getting louder as Yagyuu's kiss became more insistent, until finally Niou braced his hands against Yagyuu's chest and pushed him back. "Don't lie, Hiroshi. It's not becoming."

"I'm telling the truth." He looked straight into Niou's eyes as he spoke. There was this thing about being best friends and doubles partners though - Niou knew that Yagyuu lied like he spoke the truth.

"No you're not." Niou sighed and looked up at the ceiling. His eyes closed when Yagyuu leaned down and nuzzled his neck.

"Stubborn."

"Have you eaten yet? We should go do that before going to practice." Niou shoved Yagyuu away and moved to open the door. Yagyuu's hand on his wrist stilled him. Niou stared at Yagyuu until he sighed and let go, and they went downstairs.

They didn't speak on their way to practice, and once in the clubroom, changed quickly and quietly. Niou knew Sanada raised an eyebrow at him behind his back, but didn't feel like responding to it. He also knew Yanagi was watching him closely and probably didn't like that he arrived with Yagyuu. Yanagi and Yukimura had been arguing softly when the two of them had arrived, and had immediately stopped when Niou had opened the door and greeted them. It probably had something to do with him. As he tightened his wrist and ankle weights, Niou mused on how it was easier back when he was the main source of worry for _other_ teams, not his own.

Tension ran high throughout practice. Kirihara wasn't pleased with the weekend's lineup when he heard it. His first question was why Yukimura wasn't playing, and his second was why Yagyuu was playing singles. "Even if Niou-senpai and Yagyuu-senpai aren't playing doubles together, Niou-senpai's the one more suited for singles!" A stern look from Yukimura made him shrink back though, looking off to a side and sucking the inside of his cheek.

Yagyuu was assigned an extra rep with the ball machines and twenty laps for an almost embarrassing loss to Sanada. Niou frowned as he and Yanagi worked with the ball machines after their own match. It was weird doing the exercises he and Yagyuu normally went through with Yanagi. Even though they were a stronger team, it was because their individual strengths were stronger. They weren't imposing as a team - they were imposing as individuals.

"Niou, you should work on leg strength a little bit more. Your power isn't maxed because you're not pushing forward as much as possible." Yanagi never stopped pointing out areas of improvement, even though there were only two matches left and not much leg strength Niou could build up in that time. Rikkai was the kind of team where the goal was to strive for perfection; winning was just an added bonus that they achieved in their quest. Niou nodded, making a mental note to increase his time with the leg machines during their work-out sessions.

The weekend at once came too quickly and not quickly enough. Niou assiduously avoided Yagyuu all week. He even did his homework everyday, so that when Yagyuu asked him about their study sessions, he could honestly say that he was on schedule.

The evening before the semifinals, Niou found himself at their tree by the shrine. He'd gone for a walk after dinner because it was too hard to sit still. He climbed to the branch Yagyuu had sat in the last time they were there together. Leaning against the trunk, he started thinking about when he and Yagyuu first met, and when he started becoming aware of Yagyuu as more than a friend. He recalled how he felt when he saw Yagyuu out on a date, versus how he felt when he thought Yanagi may date Kirihara. There was no doubt that Yagyuu's dating someone else affected him more, but he wondered if maybe, that wasn't the best way of measuring his feelings.

Maybe a part of him wanted to be found. There was no other real explanation for going there, other than to directly face Yagyuu. That was why he wasn't surprised when he heard his name, though he was surprised by who said it. "Yanagi? What are you doing here?"

"I called your house and your mom said you went out. I figured you might be here." Yanagi didn't move to climb the tree though, opting instead to lean against the trunk of a nearby tree, looking up at Niou.

"How do you even know about this place?"

"I followed you two once. Niou, we need to talk. Actually, just listen." Yanagi paused, as though expecting Niou to protest. "I know you're still confused, and I don't really want to add to that, but I think this needs to be said. I don't know what Yagyuu's feelings towards you are, but I don't think they're completely real. Yagyuu is straight and will end up with a woman. It could be an infatuation - his feelings for you right now could be real - but the truth is he won't stay with you forever. One day, he's going to get fed up with you because you're a man. And then what, Niou?"

Niou closed his eyes. Somehow, he couldn't fault Yanagi for his words. How could he, when he knew they were true? He could still hope that it wouldn't happen, but what if it did? When they didn't have tennis practice forcing them to spend so much time together? They would drift apart. They could still be friends, but it was unlikely anything more would remain.

"I went through the same thing with Sadaharu. We dated briefly in middle school, before I moved away. As it turns out, long distance is difficult when one person isn't really interested in the other."

"If you knew all this, Yanagi, why did you push me away after Kantou?" Niou hopped down to the ground so he could face Yanagi. The master looked away, folding his arms defensively over his chest.

"I was hurt. Confused. I doubted myself. I thought maybe, Yagyuu could really care for you, could really make you happy. And in some way, I wanted you to realize it, without my telling you." Yanagi paused, though it was clear he wasn't finished yet. He turned his head and looked straight at Niou. Yanagi didn't often open his eyes, but when he did, it pierced straight through every layer of one's defense. "Have you, Niou?"

* * *

Half of this part was written nearly a year ago; half was written more recently. So yea, there might be a disconnect; sorry if there is.

And yea, y'all know what to do. It's the thing starting with an R that makes authors write more.


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